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

Breaking the Waves

Dir. Lars von Trier
158 min

Kicking off our 2026 Pantheon series of the greatest films ever made, Lars von Trier's 1996 masterpiece is a devastating melodrama featuring an indelible performance from Emily Watson as the woman whose love for her husband knows no bounds.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Happy Holidays

Dir. Scandar Copti
123 min

Happy Holidays (the title is ironic) is an expansive, acutely observed sociopolitical family saga which thoughtfully considers the myriad intricacies of Israeli Arab life.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Yunan

Dir. Ameer Fakher Eldin
125 min

In this haunting mood piece, Munir is a middle-aged Syrian writer in exile in Germany. In crisis, he takes himself up to one of the Halligan islands in the North Sea, a suitable place to end it all...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

It Was Just an Accident

Dir. Jafar Panahi
105 min

Having offered some late-night assistance to a stranger in the wake of an auto accident, a mechanic grows convinced that he recognizes the supposed stranger’s voice as that of his torturer during a grueling prison spell.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

L'Étranger

Dir. François Ozon
122 min

Recreating 1940s Algeria in vivid, high contrast black and white cinematography, L'Etranger is erotic, enigmatic and brutal in equal measures, a masterful screen version of Albert Camus's insoluble classic of existential alienation.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Sentimental Value

Dir. Joachim Trier
135 min

A once-revered director crashes back into his family’s lives, eager to recruit his daughter for a film role. When she declines, he finds a new muse in an eager but unpolished Hollywood star, sending his botched reconciliation spiraling into chaos.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema