Asinabka Festival present a special screening of this acclaimed new film for the Healing Gardens of Bab.
In a rural east-coast trailer park, Link lives with his toxic father and younger half-brother Travis. When Link discovers his Mi’kmaw mother could still be alive, it lights a flame and they make a run for a better life. On the road they meet Pasmay, a pow wow dancer drawn to Link. As the boys journey across Mi’kma’ki, Link finds community, identity, and love in the land where he belongs.
A Note from the Director
Pjila’si
This word guides the heart of Wildhood. It’s used in modern times to mean welcome. ‘dig deeper’ and the root of the meaning that’s behind it is there—come and take your place. Language speakers and Elders say this phrase was used when someone came visiting and could be applied when entering a dwelling, or coming to the community itself. It implies belonging, that there is a place for each of us where we fit, and it is always there, waiting.
Credits
Wildhood is the Two Spirit odyssey from writer/director/producer Bretten Hannam. Filmed in English and Mi’kmaw, Wildhood is written and directed by Hannam (Wildfire, Deep End) and produced by actor-turned-producer Gharrett Patrick Paon of Rebel Road Films (I am Syd Stone, The Sinner), with Julie Baldassi (My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes, Dim the Fluorescents) and Hannam as Producing Partner and Damon D’Oliveira (The Grizzlies, Honey Bee, The Book of Negroes) as Executive Producer.
Wildhood stars Phillip Lewitski (Vikings, Utopia Falls, Supernatural), Joshua Odjick (The Swarm, Unsettled, Bootlegger), Michael Greyeyes (Firestarter, Rutherford Falls, Blood Quantum, True Detective, Fear the Walking Dead), Joel Thomas Hynes (Little Dog, Trickster, Frontier, Orphan Black), Steve Lund (Schitt’s Creek, Reign, Bitten), newcomers Avery Winters-Anthony (Wildfire), Trans Mi’kmaw youth Desna Michael Thomas, Wabanaki Two Spirit Alliance Interim Executive Director John R. Sylliboy, and Mi’kmaw elder Becky Julian in a stand out performance. Guillermo Knockwood and Bobby Pierro, round out the main principal cast.
Healing Gardens of Bab Funders