Films from Darrell Dennis and Barbara Hager will make their world premiere at the Victoria Film Festival (VFF) next month.

Among the films is Dennis’s sophomore directorial feature Sweet Summer Pow Wow (pictured). The Indigenous-led coming-of-age romance, written by Dennis and Katya Gardner (The Great Salish Heist), is inspired by the director’s experiences as an Indigenous teen on the pow wow circuit.

The film is produced by Cowichan filmmaker and producer Harold C. Joe (Tzouhalem) and Leslie D. Bland (Dust n’ Bones) of Orca Cove Media. It stars Tatyana Rose Baptiste (In the Blink of an Eye) and Joshua Odjick (Bones of Crows) along with Oscar-nominated actor Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves), Tanis Parenteau (Gossip Girl), Lisa C. Ravensbergen (The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story) and Joel Montgrand (True Detective).

The film follows two Indigenous teens who find summer love on the pow wow circuit, a series of gatherings that afford Indigenous people and communities the opportunity to dance, sing, socialize and celebrate culture.

Sweet Summer Pow Wow is supported by Telefilm Canada, Bell Media, Hollywood Suite, CHEK TV, the Canada Media Fund (CMF), Creative BC, the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) and the Shaw Rocket Fund. Orca Cove Media is handling the film’s theatrical release, according to Bland. The film will have its local theatrical premiere in Coast Salish territory at the Chemainus Theatre Festival on Feb. 22.

The other Canadian film making its world premiere at VFF is the documentary Forbidden Music, directed by Hager, a Métis and Cree filmmaker and Acimow Media CEO.

The film, produced by Acimow Media, explores the story of Ida Halpern and Kwakwaka’wakw artist and singer Chief Mungo Martin, whose hundreds of recorded songs were threatened due to Canada’s Indian Act.

The documentary was shot over 16 days in Canada, the U.S. and Austria, Halpern’s home country. It received funding from the Rogers Documentary Fund, ISO, CMF, tax credits and Film Incentive BC. The concept for the documentary was licensed in 2022 by Acimow Media from Italy’s Incipit Film SRL.

According to an Acimow Media spokesperson, the film will air on B.C.’s public educational broadcaster Knowledge Network, which has licensed the documentary, later this year.

Other Canadian films screening at VFF include Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language, Karen Chapman’s Village Keeper, Yan Lanouette Turgeon’s Mlle Bottine and Sophie Deraspe’s Shepherds. The National Film Board of Canada is bringing eight projects to the festival, including three feature docs from B.C. directors: Yuqi Kang’s 7 Beats Per Minute; Christopher Auchter The Stand; and Incandescence, directed by Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper.

VFF runs from Feb. 7 to 16.

Image courtesy of VFF