A moving story of hardship and resilience, this drama by directors Ryan Cooper and Eva Thomas is anchored by the powerful performance by Gail Maurice, the Métis actor and filmmaker who festival audiences know for her roles in films like BONES OF CROWS (KCFF23) and for her own directorial debut ROSIE (KCFF23). Maurice stars as Aberdeen, an Indigenous woman who faces daunting challenges as an unhoused person in Winnipeg after being displaced from her community. Thankfully, friends like Alfred (Billy Merasty of STELLAR, KCFF23) and Grace (Jennifer Podemski) provide help and solace as Aberdeen strives to not only piece her life back together but restore long-broken bonds in her family. Exhibiting great fierceness and vulnerability, Maurice helps make ABERDEEN a vital showcase for some of Canada’s best acting talent and for two of its most promising new filmmakers.

Director: Ryan Cooper, Eva Thomas

Cast: Gail Maurice, Billy Merasty, Jennifer Podemski, Ryan Rajendra Black

Language: English

Runtime: 93 minutes

Content advisory: sexual innuendo, coarse language

eva thomas

Eva Thomas is a writer, director, producer and story editor. She is a member of Walpole Island First Nation which is located in Southwestern Ontario; she is also Tohono O’odham, Cherokee and Scottish, and has dual-citizenship in the US and Canada.

Eva graduated from Arizona State University with degrees in Communication and Broadcasting. After university, she attended the Webber Douglas Dramatic Arts Academy in London, England and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Eva also earned a Masters of Arts degree in American Indian Studies from UCLA. Since then, Eva has been selected for the 2018 LA SKINS Native American Feature Film Lab in Los Angeles, the 2019 Telefilm Talent-to-Watch Program, and the 2020 Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative. In 2021, Eva was one of five women selected for the Women in View – Five in Focus: Indigenous Edition as well as the WIFT Toronto Indigenous Writers Program.

Eva participated in the inaugural imagineNATIVE & Harold Greenberg Fund (HGF) Indigenous Story Editing Mentorship. As a story editor/mentor, Eva has worked with writers in the imagineNATIVE Screenwriting Intensive, the Magee TV Diverse Screenwriters Mentorship Program, and the Women in Film and Television-Vancouver’s Tricksters & Writers Program. She is currently working with a number of writers as story editor and producer. In preparation for her cross-over to directing, Eva has worked on-set as a Director’s Assistant Mentee / Associate Producer with Danis Goulet (Night Raiders), Darlene Naponse (Stellar), and Gail Maurice (Rosie). Along with writer Darren Anthony, Eva is currently in development with CBC on a new series, Dwayne Has Issues which was supported by the NSI Totally Television Program (2020), and has funding to direct the short, Tina and Lisa, in preparation for the feature which she will be developing at WIDC.