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Record number of Indigenous Screen Office-funded films to premiere at TIFF 2025


The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) announced Tuesday a record number of indigenous films from across Canada — all of which received funding from the ISO — have been selected for the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

The ISO said it invested a combined total of $3.5 million in the development and production of eight feature films, from both emerging and established filmmakers, selected in this year’s official program. TIFF will run from Sept. 4 to 14.

“As an entity that exists solely to support Indigenous voices and vision, we are deeply proud of the delegation of Indigenous filmmakers attending TIFF this year, as the festival marks their milestone anniversary,” Kerry Swanson, CEO of the ISO, said in a press release. “Spanning across all the TIFF programming streams, these films are a powerful reflection of Indigenous talent, vision, and storytelling, and the impact of the ISO. The ISO Story Fund has provided support for all eight of TIFF’s Indigenous feature films from Canada and we look forward to celebrating these new works with festival audiences.”

Films selected for TIFF’s Special Presentations programme include: acclaimed Inuk director Zacharias Kunuk’s latest imagining of ancient Inuit stories, Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband), an epic historical drama about an arranged marriage set 4,000 years ago that blends the supernatural with verité realism; and Tasha Hubbard’s Meadowlarks, an emotional drama that follows four siblings separated by the Sixties Scoop as they come together over a week, based on her 2017 documentary Birth of a Family.

Selected for the TIFF Docs programme are: Shane Belcourt and Tanya Talaga’s Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising, a documentary about indigenous resilience and power that tells the little-known story of a youth-led indigenous protest and land reclamation in a northwestern Ontario park in Kenora in 1974; and director Darlene Naponse’s Aki, a visual art documentary that follows the seasons in Naponse’s home community of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek (formerly known as Whitefish Lake First Nation) in northern Ontario.

Bretten Hannam’s Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) has been selected for TIFF’s Platform programme, putting it in the running for the festival’s Platform Award, which is selected by an international jury and includes a $20,000 cash prize. Hannam’s feature film is a genre-bending drama that follows two Mi’kmaw brothers’ journey to avenge the spirits that haunt them from their childhood.

Selected for TIFF’s Centrepiece programme is Gail Maurice’s second feature film, Blood Lines, a Métis same-sex romance, led by actor Dana Solomon, that centres around an upcoming Métis Day festival. A search for family and reconnection drives this drama.

First Nations director Eva Thomas’ Nika & Madison, which expands on her 2023 short film Redlights, has been selected for TIFF’s Discovery programme. Thomas’s feature debut follows two estranged friends as they reevaluate their relationship after a fateful encounter with the police.

Manitoban filmmaker Rhayne Vermette’s Levers has been selected for TIFF’s Wavelengths programme, which is known for spotlighting artist-driven experimental films. In this enigmatic follow-up to her award-winning Ste. Anne, Vermette’s Levers weaves through a Red River Valley community that must grapple with a shaken sense of stability after a blast plunges them into a day of total darkness.

The ISO is an independent national advocacy and funding organization serving First Nations, Inuit and Métis creators of screen content in Canada. Its mandate is to foster and support narrative sovereignty and cultural revitalization by increasing indigenous storytelling on screens and promoting indigenous values and participation across the sector.

Photos of (l-r) Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband)Nika & MadisonNi-Naadamaadiz: Red Power RisingMeadowlarksBlood LinesAkiSk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts), and Levers, courtesy of the Indigenous Screen Office.