Tim Riedel’s upcoming psychological horror film “Ancestral Beasts” is poised to make a chilling debut at this year’s Frontières program during the Marché du Film at Cannes, and has announced a high-profile cast with one key lead yet to be decided.
The film will star “The Order” and “Day of the Dead actor” Morgan Holmstrom, Darla Contois — fresh off her Canadian Screen Award win for best actress in “Little Bird” – and Asivak Koostachin (“Portraits from a Fire”). A key male role, still to be cast, is expected to go to a well-known non-Indigenous actor over 55.
Created by Métis writer-director Tim Riedel and backed by Indigenous-led production company Michif Koonteur in collaboration with Kistikan Pictures and Buffalo Gals Pictures, the Canadian film promises a deeply personal, emotionally charged and genre-defying experience rooted in trauma, healing, and ancestral reckoning.
Set in the haunting landscape of rural Canada, “Ancestral Beasts” explores the terrifying idea: what if a severe mental health disorder took on a physical form—a creature lurking in the shadows? The story follows a woman struggling to rehabilitate her mental health as she escapes a toxic, co-dependent relationship with her sister and retreats to her ancestral home. But her quest for peace is upended when a sinister presence begins to manifest, forcing her to confront intergenerational trauma and fight for her spirit—and the lives of those she loves.
Currently in the final stages of development, “Ancestral Beasts” is on track to close financing by summer 2025, with a fall shoot planned. Multiple Canadian distributors have already expressed interest, while international sales and distribution talks are underway and expected to accelerate during Cannes.
Riedel, whose background is in documentary filmmaking, draws heavily on his own life for this project. “’Ancestral Beasts’ is an original story based on my own personal experience as the son of an Indigenous [Red River Métis] woman who was taken from her family as a child to be raised in abusive foster care during a dark time in Canadian history known as the 60s Scoop,” he told Variety. “Later in life, she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder as a result of the trauma she endured.”
To ensure an authentic and respectful portrayal, Riedel developed the script in consultation with Elders, Knowledge Keepers, cultural advisors and Indigenous psychologists. His goal is not just to terrify audiences, but to provoke empathy and reduce the stigma around mental illness. “This story is a compassionate allegory and represents an important step in my own personal healing journey,” Riedel said.
“My lived experience comes from being an innocent child whose mother suffered from a severe mental health disorder due to intergenerational trauma,” he recalled. “My reality was shaped by living in a home where one moment you’re intensely loved and fiercely protected, and the next, things take a dark turn and everything descends into chaos. But my mother was just as much a victim of her unaddressed trauma as my siblings and I were. This severe mental health disorder was like a creature, lurking in the shadows, waiting to attack us all.
“That doesn’t sound like a documentary to me. That sounds like a horror film,” he elaborated, explaining his choice for the film’s genre. “I want my audience to feel what it was like for me as a child in that house… Horror gives me the tools to express the inner workings of complex and irrational thoughts.”
“Ancestral Beasts” marks a bold evolution in North American Indigenous storytelling, one that wields horror not just as a tool of fear, but as a vessel of catharsis, cultural reflection and healing.
Presented by Canada’s Fantasia Festival and Cannes Marché du Film, the Frontières Platform program runs May 17-18.
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