Episode 116: Loretta Todd

Filmmaker Loretta Todd reflects on her long journey to bring the film adaptation of Eden Robinson’s cherished novel Monkey Beach to the big screen. The eagerly anticipated feature film – which opens the 2020 Vancouver International Film Festival, and then screens throughout – follows a young woman as she returns to her family in Kitimaat Village to save her brother from a tragic fate she’s foreseen since childhood and contend with the mystical creatures lurking in the nearby woods. The film features incredible performances by Grace Dove, Sera-Lys McArthur, Nathaniel Arcand, Adam Beach, Joel Oulette, Tina Lameman, and Ta’Kaiya Blaney, stunning cinematography by Stirling Bancroft, and a moving musical score by Jesse Zubot, and marks the award-winning director’s first narrative feature film. In this fascinating and in-depth conversation, Loretta discusses the challenges and joys associated with directing Monkey Beach, and what it means to her that a story about an Indigenous woman – that celebrates Indigenous womanhood and beauty and resilience – is opening a prestigious international film festival. Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment