Métis and Dene playwright and filmmaker Marie Clements (Bones of Crows) has gone to camera in Vancouver and B.C.’s Okanagan region on her latest feature, Tombs.

The film began principal photography on Oct. 15 and is scheduled to wrap on Jan. 23. It is written, directed and produced by Clements under her Marie Clements Media banner, alongside Christine Haebler, Trish Dolman and Steven Thibault of Vancouver’s Screen Siren Pictures.

The executive producers are Mark Slone of Toronto’s Photon Films and Media, which is handling Canadian distribution; and Kirk D’Amico of Santa Monica’s Myriad Pictures, which has taken on international sales. Myriad is introducing the film to buyers at the American Film Market, which runs in L.A. from Nov. 11 to 16.

Tombs follows three Indigenous Oklahoma sisters and their mother as they travel to L.A. in the 1950s as part of a relocation program for Native Americans. However, instead of opportunities the family is met with extreme poverty, and the sisters ultimately take three divergent paths in their lives.

The film stars U.S.-Indigenous actors Amber Midthunder (Novocaine) and Cara Jade Myers (Killers of the Flower Moon) alongside Alyssa Wapanatâhk (Peter Pan & Wendy), Isabel DeRoy-Olson (It: Welcome to Derry), Eric Johnson (Fifty Shades Freed), Darren Mann (1923), Gary Farmer (Reservation Dogs) and Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal).

Tombs is supported by Telefilm Canada, the Indigenous Screen Office, Creative BC, the Harold Greenberg Fund, Myriad Pictures and Photon Films, as well as B.C. and federal tax credits.

“Tombs brings together some of the finest Indigenous talent and non-Canadian actors who have brought their commitment and grace to telling this story and speaking the truth of our shared history,” said Clements in a statement. “Tombs began as a play I wrote some time ago, and I’m honoured to bring together this extraordinary cast and amazingly talented production team to adapt it for the big screen.”

Pictured top (L-R): Amber Midthunder (photo by Lucas Passmore), Cara Jade Myers (photo by Andrew Dylan), Alyssa Wapanatâhk (photo by Jenna Berman), Isabel DeRoy-Olson (photo by Kristine Cofsky)

Pictured bottom (L-R): Darren Mann (photo by Reto Sterchi), Eric Farmer (photo by Cara Romero), Eric Johnson (photo by Tim Leyes), Gil Bellows