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This is a comic tall-tale about two Indigenous con artists, forced to drive a cranky elder across the reserve so she can make peace with her dying sister. Along the way, they encounter what might be supernatural forces and a stash of stolen loot in a car seat from a wreck they come across.

In the opening, cousins and best friends Hank and Cody set up road inspection stops on the way into the reserve. Here they dubiously extract money from frightened white tourists, inspired by a real-life stunt that the filmmakers used to pull growing up.

This is a first-time feature with a goofy charm of its own from writer-/director A.W. Hopkins, a member of the N’Quatqua and St’at’imc First Nations peoples. The film’s very distinct comic point of view stems from the Indigenous community’s sense of otherness, being seen as living outside the mainstream norm. It deals with First Nations poverty and lack of opportunity, but does so with humour and spirit. INDIAN ROAD TRIP has just as distinct a point of view, but makes its points while offering laugh-out-loud guffaws.

The film was developed through WFF’s Indigenous Filmmaker Fellowship first as a short in 2015 and then as a feature at WFF’s Screenwriters Lab in 2016, and was nominated for seven Leo Awards in B.C. in 2020. Its’ comic tone may remind you of the classics DANCE ME OUTSIDE and especially SMOKE SIGNALS.
  • Year
    2020
  • Runtime
    90 minutes
  • Language
    English
  • Country
    Canada
  • Premiere
    World Premiere
  • Rating
    Contains strong language
  • Director
    A.W. Hopkins
  • Screenwriter
    A.W. Hopkins
  • Producer
    A.W. Hopkins, Amy Fox, Ingo Lou
  • Executive Producer
    Andrew Currie
  • Cast
    Ajuawak Kapashesit, Paul Grenier, Dale Hunter, Evan Adams, Miika Whiskeyjack, Shayla Jade Stonechild, Nathaniel Arcand, Nathan Alexis, Jorydan White, Erin Higginbottom , Kindall Charters
  • Cinematographer
    Vincent De Paula
  • Editor
    Jeffery Lando
  • Production Design
    Doreen Manual
  • Composer
    Jason Burnstick
  • Sound Design
    Eli Haligua