Filmmaker Justin Ducharme will mark his feature writing and directorial debut with the Indigenous-led Seventeen, which has entered production in Vancouver.

The film is produced by Ducharme for his Vancouver-based Your Boy Productions and Tyler Hagan along with Olivia Marie Golosky for Experimental Forest Films, also based in Vancouver. Set over the course of 17 hours, It tells the story of three Indigenous sex workers who intersect in Vancouver through chance, relation and shared experiences of familial and colonial displacement.

Seventeen stars Nizhonniya Austin (The Curse), Taio Gelinas (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Kaniehtiio Horn (Seeds), Shannon Baker (Bones of Crows) and singer and model Aalayna Primrose (Kin). It is supported by Telefilm Canada, the Indigenous Screen Office, the Canada Media Fund, Vortex Media and Bell Media.

Ducharme is from the Métis community of St. Ambroise on Treaty 1 Territory. His previous works include the short films Positions and The Dancer as well as the web series Kin.

Image courtesy of Experimental Forest Films; photo by Richard Yeomans-Richardson