A rising talent who already wowed festival audiences with ABERDEEN (KCFF25) – a powerful drama she co-directed with Ryan Cooper – Eva Thomas makes an equally strong impression with her first feature-length effort as a solo director, buttressed by compelling performances from Ellyn Jade and Star Slade. They play the film’s title characters, two cousins who end up in perilous circumstances when a night out at a local bar ends with a disturbing encounter with a local police officer. Both tested and reinforced by the events that ensue, the bond between the two young women provides a compelling centre for Thomas’ highly dramatic and deeply human story of strength and defiance.

Director: Eva Thomas

Cast: Ellyn Jade, Star Slade, Shawn Doyle

Language: English

Runtime: 87 minutes

Content warning: mature themes, sexual assault, violence

eva thomas, director/writer

Eva Thomas is a Canadian First Nations (Walpole Island First Nation) filmmaker and screenwriter.

Thomas attended Arizona State University, where she studied Communication and Broadcasting. She went on to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and Capilano University.

Thomas was initially interested in acting in Hollywood, but after realizing the limited number of roles available for Indigenous actors, she decided to become a script writer and editor instead. She went on to run the imagineNATIVE Features Lab, doing script editing. While there, she worked with Kaniehtiio Horn as a story editor and later executive producer on a project called Seeds.