WILDHOOD

One of my favorite films out of TIFF this year was Bretten Hannam’s WILDHOOD (trailer here), a coming-of-age drama about a two-spirit teenager who leaves an abusive household in search of his mother. Starring Phillip Lewitski as Link, Avary Winters-Anthony as his younger half-brother Travis, and Joshua Odjick as a Mi’kmaw boy named Pasmay who they meet along the way, the movie is a tender look at sexuality and identity. WILDHOOD’s portrayal of intimacy in particular struck me as refreshingly candid and compassionate, and its final scene left me speechless. It’s a soft and beautiful film that, rather than weighing down its Indigenous characters with melodrama or tragedy as art too often does, instead imbues them with all the nuance of real human beings, and offers a beautiful story of hope.

—Alicia Devereaux, Development Assistant