Slash/Back

Slash/Back

Winner of the Best First Feature Award at the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival, Slash/Back brings the campy energy of the classic slasher genre to a setting unlike any other—a remote hamlet in Nunavut called Pangnirtung. In her bold directorial debut, Inuit filmmaker Nyla Innuksuk—who hails from Iglulik and Iqaluit—crafts a thrilling, funny, and refreshingly original take on the alien-invasion film.

When a strange extraterrestrial force descends on their small Arctic town, a group of Inuit teenage girls must rely on their hunting instincts, resourcefulness, and fierce determination to defend their community. Using Pang’s 24 hours of sunlight as a striking visual backdrop, Innuksuk flips the conventions of the dark, claustrophobic thriller, delivering a story filled with color, humor, and unapologetic attitude.

Featuring sly nods to classic horror films, bursts of irreverent comedy, and plenty of alien blood, Slash/Back infuses sci-fi action with Indigenous culture and youthful rebellion. Its spirited girl gang of heroes refuses to let their town—or their future—go down without a fight.

Vibrant, inventive, and full of heart, Slash/Back breathes fresh (and icy) air into the genre, cementing Innuksuk as one of Canada’s most exciting emerging filmmakers.

Screening With:

Closed System: A Science Fiction Short Film

Student Short Showcase

A genetically modified invasive species, bred to eat plastic and spin it into rope, makes a bid for freedom in the last wilderness on earth. A dutiful scientist is sent by a ruthless algorithm to hunt it down and destroy it. As she experiences the forest for the first time in her life, the scientist begins to question everything she has been taught about pollution, conservation, and the mythos of the untouched wilderness.

13 mins 37s
Canada, 2021
Produced / Written / Directed / Score
Bawaadan Collective / Marjan Verstappen / Stephen Neufeld
Language: English

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