Closing Night Outdoor Film Screening
Ancestral Beasts - Dramatic Feature
Tim Riedel (Mètis) • 104min • 2026 • English • Canada
Four years after the loss of her mother, Elyse (Morgan Holstrom, OUTLANDER, SHADOW OF THE ROUGAROU) can’t get her head right. She’s messing up at work, needs stress leave, and her sister, Nikki (Darla Contois, LITTLE BIRD, ABERDEEN), is on her case about everything. Feeling like she can’t win, Elyse takes off to their auntie’s house outside the city to regroup. When she arrives at the small, isolated cabin, she encounters nosy neighbour Max (Josh Strait, SAFEHAVEN, CORNER GAS), whom she thinks broke in. She soon realizes it’s not Max, and there might be raccoons living under the house, as confirmed by a gaping hole in her bedroom floor. Her sick leave request is denied, and the constant bickering with Nikki is wearing her down, with her mediation app barely keeping her sane. But there’s something lurking in the house’s foundation, and the more Elyse tries to deal with her mental health, the more she notices a dark presence surrounding her.
Screening time
7:30pm
(Doors at 7:00pm)
*** Free Event (Donations Welcome)
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Content Warning: Mature themes, gory effects, intended for adult audiences
*** Director Tim Riedel will be in Attendance for a Q&A!
Short Film - Native in Nuhaka
Hiona Henare (Director), Louisa Tipene Opetaia (Producer) • 14m • Aotearoa, New Zealand • 2017
This short documentary film is a love story for Māori culture and cinema. Set in Nūhaka and the Kahungunu Marae in a small village in New Zealand, it focuses on a behind the scenes look at the Wairoa Māori Film Festival and festival founder Leo Koziol.
Director Biography - TIM RIEDEL
TIM RIEDEL is a Métis filmmaker from the Red River region of Manitoba who develops storytelling that brings healing through both traditional and modern knowledge using an approach known as two-eyed seeing.
Tim started as a writer of the children’s 3D animated series Eddy Unleashed which aired on YTV domestically and TV3 internationally.
Tim later shifted his focus to factual filmmaking where he traveled to some of the world’s most dangerous places working in partnership with non-government organizations (NGO’s) to make advocacy films designed to raise awareness and improve the representation of marginalized people in media. These projects include 2019’s award winning feature documentary Jackstones and 2021’s Pressure Baby.
Over the past five years Tim returned to his homeland to tell Indigenous stories about his Métis community; shining light on intergenerational trauma, Identity appropriation, and reconnecting fractured heritages while advocating for the sustained growth and wellbeing of the next generation of Indigenous storytellers.
