IM4 Lab
The IM4 Lab is a leader in Indigenous digital and immersive media training and production. We support Indigenous filmmakers and media professionals by providing innovative tools and training to tell our own stories through XR technologies. We’re building an XR ecosystem of Indigenous media professionals working within immersive technologies.
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Created by filmmaker/producer, Loretta Todd, the IM4 Lab is guided by Indigenous media matriarchs, including Tracey Kim Bonneau, Cease Wyss and Doreen Manuel, who are leaders in media production, media education and community activism.
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Since its inception, the IM4 Lab has offered over 40 workshops attended by over 300 Indigenous media professionals and emerging media professionals. Our workshops have included Basic to Advanced Unity for VR, AR for Media Production, AR for Artists, Sound Design for VR, Game Design for AR/VR, Music Videos in WebVR – to name a few.
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The IM4 Lab has created the first ever in the world Indigenous Virtual Production Training Program, microcredential through Emily Carr University.
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Writing / Media
Ms. Todd is known for her intellectual curiosity and scholarship in film and cultural studies. She excels at understanding a film’s cultural meaning and can deconstruct dense theoretical concepts into articulate, accessible essays, published by such prestigious publishers as MIT Press. Some of her essays appear in the following books (selected). And Ms. Todd brings dynamic thought and action through her cultural programming (selected) and Indigenous language media.
"About the Future" Essay by Loretta Todd included in the publication that accompanied CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: The Next 500 Years - International Exhibition of Contemporary Indigenous Art, Winnipeg, Manitoba
“Polemics, Philosophies, and a Story: Aboriginal Aesthetics and the Media of This Land” by L. Todd
In Transference, Tradition, Technology: Native New Media: native new media exploring visual & digital culture, [Claxton, Loft, Townsend], Banff Press
Commissioned to write Afterword in Bill Reid and Beyond: Expanding on Modern Native Art, Karen Duffek and Charlotte Townsend-Gault, editors. Douglas & McIntyre Publishers
"Aboriginal Narratives in Cyberspace" by L. Todd
Immersed in Technology: Art and Vitural Environments
Mary Ann Moser and Douglas MacLeod, editors. MIT Press
Creator and Creative Director of the Aboriginal Media Lab. Partners: Chief Dan George Centre, Simon Fraser University, AbTec Labs, Concordia University, Museum of Anthropology, University of BC.
Aboriginal Media Lab Event: The Silent Enemy - Live Jazz Fusion Musical Score with Russell Wallace; Strong Words – Celebration of Aboriginal Poets
Carrying on "Irregardless": Humour in Contemporary Northwest Coast Art | Bill Reid Gallery Public Program Curator Series of Public Events regarding Indigenous Humour in Media including: 1491s, The Enduring Power of Smoke Signals and the Making of an Iconic Character, with Evan Adams on playing Thomas Builds-the-Fire, An Evening with artist Kent Monkman, Talk About Laugh: ’Blak Comedy & Indigenous Cultural Perspectives On Humour’ with Angela Hurley and The Serious Side of Humour: Use of Clowning and Humour in Traditional Storytelling with Victor Masayesva.
MyCree a Cree language learning app designed, developed and produced by Loretta Todd and her team. Working with Cree teacher Barbara McLeod, Ms. Todd set out to make a visually appealing and easy to navigate interactive app. My Cree App is a quick introduction to Cree alphabet sounds, words and phrases. It uses clear, easy tounderstand graphics to navigate the four main sections of the app: Cree Basics (vowel and consonantsounds), individual words, fun and useful phrases, and illustrative songs. MyCree has recieved much praise and numerous downloads from the App Store, where it is free to download.