Florent Vollant
Biography
Florent Vollant, an Innu singer-songwriter, was born in Labrador in 1959 and grew up on the Maliotenam reserve east of Sept-Îles. In the 1980s, he helped create the Innu Nikamu Festival, which has since become an annual showcase for Indigenous talent. With his partner Claude McKenzie, he formed the duo Kashtin, which made history by recording three successful albums between 1989 and 1995. Their music took them to international stages, making Kashtin the first Quebec Indigenous group. A fervent defender of the environment, he was awarded the title of Artist for Peace in 1994. Involved in his community, he created the Makusham studio, offering a platform to young Indigenous musicians. His solo career is equally impressive, with critically acclaimed albums and prestigious collaborations. In 1999, his Innu-language Christmas album, "Nipaiamianan," won a Juno Award. In 2019, he won the first-ever Indigenous Artist of the Year award at the ADISQ Gala. Florent Vollant has received numerous awards, including the title of Compagnon des arts et des lettres du Québec in 2017, the Gold Medal of the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec in 2018, and the Governor General's Performing Arts Award in 2020. His musical legacy and commitment to his community continue to inspire and touch audiences around the world.
Known For & Full Filmography18 Titles
Drama Series - 1987, 16 episodes • as Self - Kashtin
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 2020, 16 episodes • as Self - Guest
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 2020, 16 episodes • as Self
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 2010, 16 episodes • as Self
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 2009, 16 episodes • as Self - Guest Artist
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 2003, 16 episodes • as Self
Mélissa Lavergne and Normand Brathwaite host a unique musical show where all musical styles collide and where emerging artists rub shoulders with big-name performers.
Drama Series - 2024, 16 episodes • as Self
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 1979, 16 episodes • as Self - Presenter
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 2021, 16 episodes • as Self
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 1998, 16 episodes • as Self
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Movie - 2021, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
In her new documentary, Elisapie Isaac takes us on a visual and musical jaunt across the country, meeting the people who inspired the songs on her latest album, The Ballad of the Runaway Girl.
Drama Series - 2017, 16 episodes • as Self
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Movie - 2020, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
In fall 2018, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal created the chamber opera Chaakapesh, a lighthearted story of the hero who founded the Innu people sung in three languages (Innu, Cree and Inuktitut) by Florent Vollant, Ernest Webb and Akinisie Sivuarapik. The orchestra then went on the road to perform the unique work in Quebec’s Far North, stopping in Kuujjuaq, Salluit, Kuujjuarapik, Oujé-Bougoumou, Mashteuiatsh and Maliotenam. Far more than just a concert film, Chaakapesh puts the audience front row centre as artists and communities come together in a remarkable cultural space. Poignant testimonials, important discussions and Maestro Nagano as we’ve never seen him before.
Movie - 2020, 2h 15m • as Self
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Movie - 2021, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
The soul of the Innu language is embodied in the territory, the water and the forest, witnesses to the rapid disappearance of the caribou. Florent Vollant’s music continues to carry this language throughout the world.
Movie - 2025, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Florent Vollant, an iconic musician of the Innu nation, feels the urgent need to tell his story like never before. Co-founder of the celebrated duo Kashtin, renowned for his acclaimed solo albums and as a political activist in defense of his culture, Florent now has limited mobility due to a stroke. As he enters a new chapter of his life, he remains committed to creating, transmitting and dreaming up new projects.
Movie - 2011, 2h 15m • as Sans-Abris
Dave, an urban aboriginal in his early twenties, is a Montreal actor. His adoption at the age of 3 has erased all memory of his Native culture. When he receives his first-ever contact with his biological mother through a photo in the mail, Dave leaves for Kinogamish, the reserve where he was born. The reunion does not unfold as expected and Dave becomes disoriented, confronted with a world that seems hostile and foreign. His unplanned return to this desolate community causes upheavals and chain reactions, while dredging up a painful past scarred by secrets and lies.
Movie - 2018, 2h 15m • as Lui-même
The origins and evolution of the Innu Nikamu Music and Aboriginal Arts Festival are intimately linked to the territorial roots of the Innu people and to the life of the Maliotenam Reserve community. For centuries past the Innu had followed a seasonal migration cycle, wintering in the northern territories for the caribou hunt and returning every summer to the north shore of the St-Lawrence. Festivities, meetings, traditional games and weddings marked the latter period, and the Festival has become the modern day reincarnation of the ancient summer celebration.