KAKATSHAT **** Canada 2019 Dir: Eve Ringuette. 8 mins
Unfolding in Inuktitut dialect, this opens with a note of how Innus return to their homelands at the end of summer. In 1829, a grandmother is abandoned by a young man, whom she curses along with his descendants. In the modern day, a father, having been brought up to be ashamed of his culture and heritage, goes camping at the same spot where the old lady was last seen, with his young son, yearning for tradition. One unsettling walk in the woods and a genuinely macabre riverside scare brings this distinctive short into understated horror territory. Simplistic in its execution and its scares, this film debut for Eve Ringuette has an eerie charge juxtaposed with a fascinating reflection on our own casual dismissal of heritage.
Review by Steven West
