More Ambitious Indigenous Pics Search for International Audiences and Deals at Toronto Festival

Indigenous cinema will make a global impact in Toronto this year, as the festival unspools a tight selection of nine Canadian and international features, docs and series for discerning auds and a bevy of buyers seeking unique acquisition titles with universal appeal.

“These are the kinds of films we’ve been longing to see,” Toronto’s international programmer of global Indigenous cinema Jason Ryle said. Ryle works alongside Kelly Boutsalis, who programs Canadian Indigenous titles; both joined TIFF’s programming team in 2022.

“Filmmakers are now interacting with the international industry on a high level,” Ryle continued. “We’re still combating notions that Indigenous film is a genre, but the diversity of tones and storytelling approaches is coming through.”

This is keenly felt by multihyphenate Eva Thomas, a dual citizen and member of Walpole Island First Nation, at the fest with Discovery titles “Aberdeen,” a turbulent family stability tale that she co-wrote and co-directed with Ojibwe filmmaker Ryan Cooper; and the wry grisly rez eco-thriller “Seeds,” which she executive produced. (Farpoint Distribution handles international sales of “Aberdeen.”)

A decade or so ago, Thomas, who trained as an actor, was in L.A. doing Thanksgiving commercials and being told she should learn how to ride a horse. “We call them ‘leather and feather’ gigs,” she told Variety in August. “I thought, ‘This isn’t going to change until someone else writes something different.’ So I decided to learn how to do that.” After shifting gears and gaining career traction, she ultimately returned to Canada, where the Indigenous screen sector was blowing up.

Story editing and set work flowed after Thomas completed a mentorship, then for five years she ran ImagineNative Institute’s feature screenwriting lab, which supports two Canadian and two international projects per year. She saw early versions of many successful features, notably “Night Raiders,” which she joined as associate producer.

“I became a writer because I couldn’t find work as an actor, then became a producer because many writers I knew had a project ready for market but could not find a producer,” she said, adding, “I still love to do that but am also focusing on my own work.” This fall, Thomas lenses her first solo feature, about two Indigenous women on the run from the law.

“Seeds,” which was in TIFF’s 2023 Every Story Accelerator Program, is the writer-director bow of actor Kaniehtiio Horn (“Letterkenny”), who starred in Thomas’s 2023 TIFF short “Redlights.”

Horn, who is from Kahnawáke (near Montreal), recently told Variety that after a steady career of guest, supporting and recurring roles she needed to prove she could carry a feature. “I wanted to do stunts and practical effects and have fun, which is why I got into this business,” she said.

“I started with a home invasion idea about someone trying to get corn, beans, and squash seeds — I didn’t set out with a deep message about food sovereignty!”

Encouraged by “Seeds” producers Jennifer Jonas and Leonard Farlinger to direct her own script, Horn accessed many of the Indigenous Screen Office’s funding programs along the way, and dialed up legend Graham Greene to play an offbeat, avuncular dual role.

Outside of New Zealand, Rachel House is best known for her roles in Taika Waititi projects. After directing theater for two decades, she makes her feature helming debut with “The Mountain.” The gentle comic adventure, which follows three young people “on the lam” from their families, is House’s reworking of an original script by Tom Furniss.

“From an Indigenous perspective, the mountain gives us our sense of identity,” House said. She is from two of eight Māori tribes positioned near Taranaki Maunga mountain, the heart of her film and legally, as of 2017, a person. “One of the necessary changes was to show that we climb things not to conquer them but to understand them.”

“Mountain” is produced by Desray Armstrong for Sandy Lane Prods. and Morgan Waru for Piki Films. Upgrade Prods. is handling U.S. and international sales.

Navajo filmmaker Sydney Freeland’s “Rez Ball,” which world premieres at TIFF before hitting Netflix later this month, taps into the rabid fandom around Navajo Nation high school basketball. The world captured by journalist Michael Powell in a series of articles is transformed into a narrative of team rebuilding.

Tapped by Wise Entertainment, Freeland started writing with Sterlin Harjo in 2019, before his “Reservation Dogs” was greenlit. The pair plugged away on the script, then LeBron James’ Springhill Company came on board. After a pandemic-related pre-production shutdown, “Rez Ball” revved up.

“One of my biggest things was that the basketball had to look good,” Freeland said. “In the Venn diagram of Natives who play basketball and Native actors there’s a lot of overlap. From 5,000 submissions for 10 speaking roles, we brought 32 prospects to New Mexico for casting callbacks, chemistry reads and basketball drills.

“There are no stunt doubles in this film, “ she added, “these kids ooze authenticity, and they bring their communities.”

In terms of the rising interest in Indigenous screen storytelling, Freeland points out, “Standing Rock brough Indigenous issues back to the forefront of mainstream America, and [Taika Waititi] directing ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ was huge for us. And then consider peak TV, where studios and companies are looking for stories from non-traditional places.

“All this has had an indirect effect on building up interest in things like ‘Rutherford Falls’ and “Reservation Dogs.’

“Then people start saying, Wow, we had no ideas these things even existed,’ and we’re sitting here saying, ‘Well, yeah, we’ve been here!’”

More Indigenous Stories Screening in Toronto:

“Ka Whawhai Tonu — Struggle Without End,” dir. Michael Jonathan. North American premiere in Centrepiece. A retelling of a pivotal 1864 battle between Māori and colonial British forces in New Zealand.

“So Surreal: Behind the Masks” dir. Neil Diamond, Joanne Robertson. World premiere in TIFF Docs. Exploring the connection between the works of famous Surrealist artists and the ceremonial masks of the Yupʼik and Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw nations.

“The Knowing Picture” dir. Courtney Montour, Tanya Talaga. World premiere in Primetime.

Screen adaptation of journalist Tanya Talaga’s book about her search for a long-lost matriarch named Annie, to solve an 80-year-old family mystery.

“Thou Shalt Not Steal” dir. Dylan River. World premiere in Primetime.

Dark comedic Outback road trip, with “Heartbreak High” Sherry-Lee Watson and Will McDonald on the run from Australian stars Miranda Otto and Noah Taylor.

“My Fathers’ Daughter — Biru Unjárga,” dir. Egil Pedersen. World premiere in Discovery.

A teenager living in a Sámi village in a corner of Norway believes her biological father is Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau until she learns the shocking truth.