Dustin McGladrey

A young Indigenous couple moves into their new house. While unpacking, the nosey neighbourhood welcoming committee pops by with friendly chit-chat, food, and a side of racism.

A groundbreaking Indigenous horror short, told entirely in Sm’algya̱x, bringing a long-feared spirit of the Pacific Northwest to the screen for the first time. ‘Wat’sa - The River Otter.

Angela (Sera-Lys McArthur) and Henry (Matthew Kevin Anderson), a young Ottawa couple with a baby on the way, embark on a short trip north to the Cree community of KiiWeeTin 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 Angela and her unborn child with illegal Cree ceremonies and medicine. And as Angela discovers the truth about both her ancestry and the spectral figure’s identity, she must delve into her newfound spiritual traditions in order to defend herself from her husband’s escalating purity-obsessed racism.