Earlier this month, Angela’s Shadow won two awards – for best screenwriting and best production design – at the 2025 Leo Awards. It was the latest in a string of successes for the film, which won the Panorama Audience Award at the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival, kicks off a theatrical run in Toronto this weekend, and is acclaimed Cree filmmaker Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin’s highly anticipated follow-up to the similarly lauded Broken Angel. In Angela’s Shadow, Angela (played by Sera-Lys McArthur) and Henry (Matthew Kevin Anderson), young 1930s socialites with a baby on the way, embark on a short trip north to visit Angela’s beloved childhood nanny, Mary (Renae Morriseau). When Angela is harassed by a menacing shadow figure, Mary moves to bless and protect her and her unborn child with illegal Cree ceremonies and medicine. As the truth about her ancestry and the spectral figure’s identity unfold, Angela must decide whether to delve into her newfound spiritual traditions in order to protect herself from her husband’s escalating purity-obsessed racism.

Angela’s Shadow is the second film in a trilogy that follows three sets of Cree characters all connected to each other in some way, across three different time periods, who use their connections to their Cree spiritual traditions to combat and heal from settler colonialism. The first film – the aforementioned dramatic thriller entitled Broken Angel – won Sera-Lys the award for Best Actress at the 2022 American Indian Film Festival. In this compelling conversation with Sabrina Rani Furminger, Jules and Sera-Lys talk about healing from settler colonialism through art, working with family (three of Jules’ sons and her mom all appear in the film), being pregnant IRL shortly after being pregnant onscreen, and where they’re going to take us next.

Episode sponsor: Directors Guild Of Canada, BC District Council

Bronwen Smith was nominated for a UBCP/ACTRA Award for her scene-stealing dramatic turn in Laura Adkin’s feature film directorial debut, Re: Uniting. Catherine Lough Haggquist (who received the Lorena Gale Woman of Distinction Award from UBCP/ACTRA in 2020) garnered a globe-spanning fanbase for her role as the ass-kicking General Bellweather on Motherland: Fort Salem. Separately, they are powerhouse performers; together, they are #IndustryBFFs whose friendship directly impacts their individual journeys through this topsy-turvy film and television industry (not to mention the work they do through The Drama Class, where they provide online education, support, and community for actors everywhere and at every level). In this contemplative, moving, and at times hilarious episode, Bronwen and Cat discuss their three decades of friendship – and why people sometimes ask if they’re actually okay. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

Inedia is a disquieting and psychologically charged dramatic feature exploring a young woman’s descent into a dangerous online fasting movement. Filmed on Salt Spring Island, Inedia tells the story of Cora (Amy Forsyth), a desperate young woman who signs up for an alternative lifestyle community to escape her mounting food allergies. At Sun Haven, they practice “breatharianism,” subsisting on light and air. The group’s charismatic leader (Susanne Wuest) and peaceful vibes give Cora hope, but it’s not long before she realizes there are tensions beneath the surface. At its core, Inedia is an eerie study of emotional and psychological disturbance and the way it manifests outwardly. Filmmaker Liz Cairns joins Sabrina in the YVR Screen Scene studio to discuss her journey with Inedia and her experience visiting a breatharian retreat in Peru. Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment