After proving he could pull off comedy and suspense with the local hit The Great Salish Heist, writer-director Darrell Dennis proves his versatility with this charming love story about two young people who meet cute on BC’s Pow Wow circuit. Jinny (Tatyana Rose Baptiste) is 17, beautiful, and destined for law school — that is, according to her mom, Cara, who is Chief of the Coyote Lake Tribe. But what Jinny really wants to do is dance. Then there’s Riley (Joshua Odjick), from the rival White Bluff Indian Reserve. Chief Cara knows he’s trouble from the moment she lays eyes on him…
Around the edges the film points to issues like addiction, diabetes, and generational trauma, but at its heart this is (as the title suggests) a sweet, affirmative romance about attractive and likable teenagers finding their way.
Apr 11 & 12: Q&A with producer Leslie Bland
Darrell Dennis
Tatyana Rose Baptiste, Joshua Odjick, Graham Greene, Tanis Parenteau
Canada
2025
English
Audience Award, Victoria Film Festival
Violence, coarse language
Open to youth!
$10 youth tickets available
Book Tickets
Sunday April 13
Tuesday April 15
Thursday April 17
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits
Producer
Leslie D. Bland, Harold C. Joe
Screenwriter
Darrell Dennis, Katya Gardner
Cinematography
Daniel Carruthers
Editor
Gavin Andrews
Original Music
Wayne Lavallee
Production Design
Lisa Hageman Yahgulanaas
Art Director
Sam Higgins
Also in This Series
Canadian Film Week spotlights 18 features, including six Vancouver premieres and four brand new films from BC filmmakers, plus returning classics, new favourites, and free screenings on National Canadian Film Day.
Sweet Summer Pow Wow
After the local hit The Great Salish Heist, writer-director Darrell Dennis proves his versatility with this charming love story about two young people who meet cute on BC's Pow Wow circuit. Her mom wants her to become a lawyer, but Jinny loves to dance...
The Decline of the American Empire
Friends from the History Department at the University of Montreal come together for a dinner party. While the men prepare the meal, the women work out at the gym. In both groups, the conversation returns repeatedly to sex...
Village Keeper
In Karen Chapman’s sensitive debut feature, a widowed mother desperate to shelter her teenage daughter and son from a surge of gun violence in Toronto takes it upon herself to cleanse the blood from crime scenes in her Lawrence Heights neighbourhood.
