There’s a good reason why four Cree female characters practise their spirituality inside a cave in Angela’s Shadow. Vancouver-based Cree filmmaker Jules Arita Koostachin set her dramatic feature in the late 1930s when it was illegal for First Nations people to engage in traditional cultural practices such as smudging, potlaches or sun dancing.
“They had to go underground to perform ceremony,” Koostachin, a member of the Attawapiskat First Nation, tells Pancouver by phone. “They had to go underground to find themselves and sustain who they were as human beings. And they were forced to go to church.”
Through her film, Koostachin demonstrates the impact of the Indian residential school system and the Indian Act on Cree people over decades. In Angela’s Shadow, she also shows how heroic Cree matriarchs sustained their culture and language in spite of government-perpetrated cultural genocide in partnership with Christian churches.
“I think as an Indigenous storyteller, providing historical context is really important for settler Canadians to grasp what happened here,” Koostachin adds. “I thought it would be important to bring in that other perspective from back then where people were impacted directly. And their kids were being taken away or at risk of being taken away.”
Angela’s Shadow won the audience award at the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival. It revolves around a young, married Ottawa couple, Angela (Sera-Lys McArthur) and Henry (Matthew Kevin Anderson), who are looking forward to their first child. Angela, who’s visibly pregnant, receives a letter from a former nanny, Mary (Renae Morriseau), urging her to visit her Cree community of KiiWeeTin before giving birth.
Angela’s Shadow includes surprising twists
Angela is initially perplexed and somewhat irritated because she had no contact with Mary for many years. At the same time, the expectant mother feels like she’s being harassed by a menacing shadow that suddenly appears and disappears. Her husband Henry, a doctor, sees the trip as an opportunity to become an anthropologist, learn about Indigenous ways, and write an article on this subject. Henry’s seemingly liberal sensibilities don’t go over well with his father (Stephen Jf Walker), who questions why he would want “to document the ravings of half-naked savages”. Angela interjects to declare that her former nanny isn’t a savage. Henry’s father wryly notes that this is only because Mary had the benefit of spending four years in their upper-class home.
But when Angela and Henry arrive in KiiWeeTin, their lives take some surprising turns. As Henry spends time on the land with two young Indigenous cousins, Angela learns about her Cree ancestry, which had been kept secret from her. This creates tension in the marriage, with the “Shadow” in the title referring to the spirit in Angela’s midst. However, in a Jungian sense, it could just as easily allude to the part of Angela’s unconscious Self that comes bursting forth with each revelation.
“Angela is someone who has been impacted by racism, who was hidden from residential school, and then raised white,” says Koostachin (NiiMisSak: Sisters in Film, WaaPaKe). “She is basically returning home.”
It was filmed on Katzie and Kwantlen First Nation territory. The filmmaker sees echoes in Angela’s story with what’s happening today—too many Indigenous kids are taken into government care, raised in foster homes, and then must resort to reconnecting with their Indigenous roots as adults.
Screenwriters linked story to Broken Angel
Initially, Koostachin wrote the first draft of the story as an unpublished novel. Her mentor was the highly regarded Stó꞉lō writer Lee Maracle, who died in 2021. Koostachin wanted to keep the story alive, so she began collaborating with a non-Indigenous co-writer, Steven Neufeld, on a screenplay. According to Koostachin, he focused more on structure and the arc of character development, whereas she was the key person when it came to incorporating Cree culture.
“We just worked really well together,” Koostachin says.
They decided to link the story to her 2023 feature film, Broken Angel. In this thriller, McArthur also played the title role as an Indigenous woman on a spiritual journey after fleeing an abusive relationship. The Angela character in Angela’s Shadow is Angel’s great-great grandmother.
Several characters in Angela’s Shadow are on their own internal journeys, including an Indigenous parish priest named Peter (David Lyle). He is deeply conflicted about his role as the Catholic representative in KiiWeeTin, where children are being abducted by the church. Meanwhile, he is encouraging their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles to become better people.
“I think that’s really interesting because when I go back home to northern Ontario to my home community, we see people that are Indigenous who are part of the church,” Koostachin says. “For me, it feels like such a contradiction in a way, but who am I to critique them? We fail to see that maybe they are also impacted by the residential school system and what has happened. Maybe they have internalized it and are not questioning it.”
Younger characters add humour
While Angela’s Shadow is billed as a thriller, there’s also comic relief provided by two young cousins ably played by Koostachin’s sons Asivak and Mahiigan Koostachin. Their characters are not bumbling fools, Koostachin emphasizes, but there are lighter moments when they take Henry out on a hunt.
She and Neufeld wove in clever references to shadism within Indigenous communities and the white man’s temper. They also explore what happens when settlers engage in Indigenous ceremonial practices without taking them seriously.
“I think it’s fun to show the Cree humour that exists,” Koostachin says. “We’re here because of our humour. We’re resilient because of our humour.”
Angela’s Shadow will be screened at the VIFF Centre from Friday (June 20) to Monday (June 23) and next Thursday (June 26). Prior to the June 20 screening, the VIFF Centre lobby will be converted into an Indigenous Market with Indigenous artisans, starting at 7 p.m. There will also be a musical performance by M’Girl, with the screening scheduled for 8:15 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit the website. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia, Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social, and Instagram @PancouverMedia.
