Benjamin
Masty

Benjamin Masty is a Cree Filmmaker from Whapmagoostui, Quebec. The middle child of four siblings, the family enjoyed movie nights by renting from the local video store. These moments heavily influenced his love for cinema. Eventually, his father purchased a Video Camcorder, those classic bulky ones that used VHS tapes. Masty would film family gatherings, Goosebreak camping trips, and making short funny videos with his friends. Although he was a kid at the time, Masty realized he could manipulate images and tell a visual story by pausing at the right moments to create a seemingly edited video. This intrigued him so much that he ended up pursuing it as a possible career.

In 2006, Masty got accepted at Dawson College when he enrolled in Creative Arts, Languages, and Literature: Cinema, Video, and Communications. From there, he moved onto working at CBC North’s Cree Television Program, “Maamuitaau”, as an Intern but quickly got promoted as a permanent journalist and eventually being hired as the host of the television program. In 2019, Masty furthered his education when he got accepted to Concordia University as a student of Mel Heppenheim School of Cinema by pursing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in the Film Production Program.

Today, Masty deferred his studies due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and moved back to his hometown in Whapmagoostui. He works for the Whapmagoostui First Nation Corporation in the Legislative Department but is not giving up his education as he plans to return in the Fall of 2022. Although he has a permanent job, Masty works on his passion in the film industry by working on contracts as an independent filmmaker. His first feature documentary is, “The Journey of Nishiyuu”, which was produced by Agoodah Pictures and Mukash Productions Inc.