Fresh off its six Canadian Screen Award nominations, here’s your first look at Wildhood. Mongrel Media released the trailer last night for Brett Hannam’s sophomore feature. Wildhood is a revitalizing coming of age story. The film follows Link (Phillip Lewitski) as he searches for his Mi’kmaw mother and finds love along the way.
Wildhood scored six Canadian Screen Award nominations in yesterday’s announcement. Its nominations include Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Lewitski), and Best Supporting Actor (Joshua Odjick). But more notable is the film’s ability to kick open doors for Two Spirit stories in Canadian film.
“In Wildhood, writer/director Bretten Hannam brings a refreshing approach to this road movie, making it a captivating journey of self-discovery,” wrote Barbara Goslawski while reviewing the film during TIFF. “With its keen visual strategy, the film becomes an allegory for a spiritual and sexual awakening. Wildhood employs a deceptively simple narrative structure, one in which stylistic elements imbue the film with a deeper, more transcendent quality.”
I also spoke with Hannam back at TIFF for Complex about bringing Two Spirit representation to the screen and what sets Wildhood apart from other queer stories. “To me, Two-Spirited means an identity that encompasses a relationship, not just with gender and sexuality, but with the land, culture, animals, and community,” said Hannam. “It’s a lot broader than a label of sexual identity or a gender identity.” (Wildhood made our list of Canada’s best as well.)
Get your first look at Wildhood below:
Synopsis
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 be alive, it lights a flame. 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.
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