Skip to main content
Angela's Shadow film image; woman standing in front of a tree

Angela's Shadow

Panorama

This event has passed

World Premiere

Angela (Sera-Lys McArthur) and Henry (Matthew Kevin Anderson), a young Ottawa couple with a baby on the way, embark on a short trip north to the Cree community of KiiWeeTin to visit Angela’s beloved childhood nanny, Mary (Renae Morriseau). When Angela is harassed by a menacing shadow figure, Mary moves to bless and protect Angela and her unborn child with illegal Cree ceremonies and medicine. And as Angela discovers the truth about both her ancestry and the spectral figure’s identity, she must delve into her newfound spiritual traditions in order to defend herself from her husband’s escalating purity-obsessed racism.

Balancing darkness and light to dramatic effect, Jules Arita Koostachin (WaaPaKe) crafts a ghost story rich in narrative traditions, period details, and uncanny allure.

 

Oct 2: Q&A with director Jules Koostachin and actors Asivak Koostachin, Rita Koostachin & Renae Morriseau

Oct 5: Q&A with director Jules Koostachin and actors Asivak Koostachin & Rita Koostachin

 

Community Partner

     

Director
Cast

Sera-Lys McArthur, Matthew Kevin Anderson, Renae Morriseau, Asivak Koostachin, Mahiigan Koostachin, David H. Lyle

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2024

Language

English

18+
93 min
BC Spotlight Drama Indigenous Cinema Q&As at VIFF Women Directors
ChaKaSteTin Productions Inc.

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Patti Poskitt

Producer

Jules Arita Koostachin

Screenwriter

Jules Arita Koostachin, Steve Neufeld

Cinematography

Mike Bourquin

Editor

Lara Mazur

Production Design

Cheryl Marion

Original Music

Justin Delorme

Jules Arita Koostachin headshot; Angela's Shadow director

Jules Arita Koostachin

Born in Moose Factory, Ontario, Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin was raised by her Cree-speaking grandparents in Moosonee and her mother in Ottawa. Jules is a member of the Attawapiskat First Nation, the Ancestral lands of the MoshKeKo AsKi InNiNeWak. She earned a PhD in Indigenous documentary methodologies from UBC and a master’s in documentary media from TMU. Jules’ acclaimed works include Remembering Inninimowin (2010), Broken Angel (2023), and WaaPaKe (2023). Through VisJuelles Productions, she’s developing projects like KaTaWaSiSin and Truth in Toronto.

Filmography: Remembering Inninimowin (2010); Broken Angel (2023); WaaPaKe (2023)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

The Godfather

Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
175 min

A family saga in more senses than one, Francis Coppola's enthralling gangster opus aims to chronicle the American experience through the twentieth century. It is both a success story and a study of moral corruption.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Shoplifters

Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
121 min

A Palme d'or winner in 2018, Shoplifters is both a hard-edged and heartwarming drama about a makeshift family of impoverished urchins and orphans in contemporary Tokyo.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Samia

Dir. Yasemin Şamdereli
102 min

Despite growing up in Mogadishu, Somalia, during the civil war, Samia Yusuf Omar persists in her dream of becoming an Olympic athlete and competes in Beijing, 2008 -- with London, 2012 next on her agenda. Based on a true story.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Melancholia

Dir. Lars von Trier
135 min

Lars von Trier squares up to the end times with this grandly luxuriant but surprisingly punky sci-fi, set in an imposing country mansion house, where Justine (Kirsten Dunst) blows up what's supposed to be the happiest day of her life.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Sudan, Remember Us

Dir. Hind Meddeb
78 min

A portrait of young artists and activists, Meddeb's doc charts events in Khartoum between 2019 -- in the immediate wake of the revolution that deposed dictator Omar al-Bashir -- and the mood four years later, when the country has been torn apart by civil war.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Missouri Breaks

Dir. Arthur Penn
126 min

This exuberant, wild and wooly western from Arthur Penn features a brazenly transgressive performance from Marlon Brando, while Jack Nicholson underplays masterfully as the cattle rustler he's been hired to eliminate.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema