New to town, Zaraya befriends her next-door neighbour, who invites her to go on a search for the legendary lake monster, N’xaxaitkw—known to settlers as Ogopogo.
Supported by
Media Partner
Community Broadcast Partner
Community Partner
Kiawentiio, Emilie Bierre, Isla Grant, Aiden Howard, Riley Davis
Canada
2021
English
Coarse language
Featured in:
VIFF Short Forum: Program 6
Cinematic form is given to life’s big mysteries: luck and fate, love and loss, and the spiritual supernatural.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life follows Jack as he reflects on his 1950s Texas childhood and the death of his younger brother. Deeply spiritual and poetic, Malick’s film moves through grief, memory, time, and space. And there are dinosaurs.
Sometimes, I Imagine Them All at a Party
Fourteen years ago, Daniela Magnani Hüller survived an attempted femicide by a schoolmate. Now a filmmaker, she revisits the events surrounding that fateful incident, creating a moving collage of interviews, personal recollections, and archival material.
Image: © Bildersturm
Queen at Sea
An academic is pitted against her stepfather in a moral crisis over the care of her mother, who lives with dementia. Winner of the Silver Bear Jury Prize and Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the 2026 Berlinale.
Image: © Seafaring
The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s
The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s enters a decade shaped by 9/11, war, fear, and politics. Through films such as The Cove and Grizzly Man, these chapters trace the documentary medium's encounter with modernity as it begins to unravel.
Image: © Iraq in Fragments, 2006, dir. James Longley, USA, Daylight Factory Typecast-Pictures
Credits
Producer
Mike Johnston
Screenwriter
Asia Youngman
Cinematography
Alfonso Chin
Editor
Sarah Hedar
Production Design
Amanda Christmas
Asia Youngman
Asia Youngman is a director and screenwriter based in Vancouver. Asia wrote and directed the short film Hatha (2021) and her short documentary This Ink Runs Deep (2019) had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Most recently, she was the recipient of the Directors Guild of Canada BC Emerging Greenlight with her latest short film N’xaxaitkw (2022), which was nominated for five Leo Awards. Asia’s television credits include Odd Squad Mobile Unit (PBS, TVO) and Amplify (APTN). She is currently in post-production on a feature documentary with ESPN.