After finishing the program, the students will be accredited with the Directors Guild of Canada and certified with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees , which represents film and theatre production workers around the world.Susan Solway, chairperson of Old Sun Community College and councillor for Siksika Nation, said the film academy was originally supposed to be a two-week pilot program, but it quickly flourished into a three-month course.
McMaster certainly sees a future for themself in film. They said the course came to them at the right time. When starting the program, McMaster was in the early months of recovery from alcohol addiction after losing their mother three years ago. Dan McMaster is one of 15 students in the Counting Coup Indigenous Film Academy. Next summer, McMaster plans to make a documentary with their friends.
"Filmmaking is just a lot like living like a Blackfoot. Everybody works together, everybody has a role, everybody helps everybody," they said.