Shirley Cheechoo (Cree) began directing films in 1997, after working as an actor and playwright of notable plays such as Path with No Moccasins (1991). Her feature-length film set on a fictional reserve in Canada, Bearwalker (2000), received best film awards at the First Peoples Festival in Montreal, the Santa Fe Film Festival, and the American Indian Film Festival of San Francisco. In 2002 Cheechoo was named Independent Filmmaker of the Year at the Arizona International Film Festival. Cheechoo teaches drama workshops to Native youth across Ontario, and has founded a touring youth drama company, the Debahjehmujig Theatre Group, which often performs in the Ojibwe language.