Arctic Talent: Filmmaker makes storytelling
her business

Crystal Martin was born to tell Indigenous stories.

The filmmaker’s late great-uncle Paul Apak Angilirq co-founded Igloolik Isuma Productions and wrote its award-winning screenplay for the movie Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner.

“Indigenous people are oral storytellers,” Martin said. “It’s something that runs in our blood.”

Originally from Sanirajak, Martin, 34, is co-owner and co-founder of Indigenous Geographic, a video production company and multimedia education platform based in Pembroke, Ont.

She runs the four-year-old start-up with local Metis filmmaker Matt LeMay, while raising her eight-year-old daughter, Kali.

The business partners have created approximately 100 video projects, including six documentaries. They employ more than 15 full-time staff, most of whom are either First Nations, Inuit or Metis.

“That growth is a direct reflection of her leadership,” said LeMay. “Crystal is building something meaningful, and I’m proud to be on that journey with her.”

For a podcast and archival film project with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., Martin visited Pangnirtung last month to “capture stories, moments and lived experiences as a visual record of a changing climate.”

She paused to share her journey.

2001: Martin moves from Sanirajak to Eganville, Ont., with parents Colleen and Bryan Martin and brother David.

2010-2013: Martin earns her degree in social work from Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology in Pembroke. Her first job in the field is in Igloolik.

2014-2017: Martin works with Tungasuvvingat Inuit in Ottawa as a youth program co-ordinator, then she provides Inuit employment training in the private sector.

June 2017: Martin gives birth to Kali days before the birth of her niece, Cailin.

Then, just days after becoming a grandmother, Martin’s mom dies from colon cancer.

Martin channels her emotions into entrepreneurship and launches her first business, Okpik Consulting. She ran it until 2023.

“I’ve always tried to meet life’s hardest moments with a sense of purpose, even when they feel overwhelming,” Martin says.

“It was something I needed for myself and for my healing, and for my family.”

2019: Martin serves as National Inuit Youth Council president, championing Inuit perspectives on education, climate change and development throughout her two-year term.

2020: Martin meets LeMay. She learns everything she can from him about filmmaking while they brainstorm project ideas.

2021: They cofound Indigenous Geographic.

March-July 2022: LeMay joins the Metis National Council’s s trip to Vatican City to meet with Pope Francis. Indigenous Geographic is the only film crew with exclusive access to the Indigenous delegation’s Vatican visit. Meanwhile, Martin manages the Pope’s visit to Iqaluit for Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

2022-2026: The filmmakers are creating The Apology, a three-part documentary that chronicles Pope Francis’s apology for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential school system. The Apology Acts 1 and 2 are on the film festival circuit.  Martin and LeMay are currently writing Act 3.

February 25, 2026: Indigenous Geographic signs an agreement in principle with the City of Pembroke to purchase 10 acres of undeveloped land, on which they plan to build a 54,000-square-foot studio and training centre.

Talent tip: “Maybe someone will see themselves through this to reach their best potential, whatever that may be for them.”