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Seventeen film image; two people sitting in a diner booth

Seventeen

Standby What is Standby?

Justin Ducharme’s film takes us into Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where three Indigenous sex workers are having a rough day. Tamara (Nizhonniya Austin) belatedly realizes she has 10 hours to find her passport for a return to the US. She’s assisted in her efforts by good friend December (Aalayna), who is grieving her recently deceased father. Meanwhile, full-time student and part-time hustler Aiden (Taio Gélinas) loses most of his savings and has to rustle up cash as quickly as possible…

December, Tamara, and Aidan live in the shadow of colonialism, and their story is as political as it is intimate. Seventeen is a work about solidarity in the face of oppression, and it alternates between moments of anger and affirmations of care. What Ducharme shows is that survival is as much a matter of love as it is one of will. As an artist, he’s much like his three characters: as tough as life demands and as tender as it allows.

 

Oct 2, 4 & 11: Filmmaker Q&A

 

Presented by

Telefilm logo

Supported by

Indigenous Screen Office logo

Media Partner

Global BC logo

Director

Justin Ducharme

Cast

Aalayna, Nizhonniya Austin, Taio Gelinas, Shannon Baker, Kaniehtiio Horn, Renae Morriseau

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2026

Language

In English and Cree with English subtitles

Classification Advisory

Sexually suggestive scenes; coarse language

14A

Open to youth at International Village & the Rio

19+

At Fifth Ave

88 min
BC Spotlight Drama Human Rights & Social Justice Indigenous Cinema
Experimental Forest Films, Your Boy Productions

Book Tickets

Sunday October 11

9:00 pm
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles U18 May Attend
International Village 8

Credits

Executive Producer

Eva Thomas

Producer

Justin Ducharme, Tyler Hagan, Olivia Marie Golosky

Screenwriter

Justin Ducharme

Cinematography

Tucker K Anderson

Editor

Lisa Pham Flowers

Production Design

Adriana Marchand

Original Music

Branton Olfert

Northern Lights

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