It’s been more than a decade in the making, but Cree filmmaker Dr. Jules Koostachin can finally rest as her film, Broken Angel, has been having an inspired festival run. The feature-length narrative film, which touches on themes of domestic violence, had its world premiere in the fall at the 2022 imagineNATIVE Festival, then screened shortly after that at Whistler Film Festival. 

Recently, Koostachin took the film to Germany to play for an international audience and now—finally—the locally-shot feature will open the 18th annual Vancouver International Women in Film Festival (VIWFF).

Broken Angel features an incredible cast of Indigenous talent including Sera-Lys McArthur (Outlander, Monkey Beach), Asivak Koostachin (Run Woman Run, Letterkenny) and Brooklyn Letexier-Hart (Night Raiders, Burden of Truth) — to name a few.

This BC production follows Angel, mother to Tanis, who escapes into the night from her abusive partner Earl (Carlo Marks) to a women’s shelter on the reservation. As the prospect of a new beginning comes to light, he tracks her down and she is forced to flee or fight.

Loose Lips caught up with Koostachin to talk about the themes behind Broken Angel, how her background in social work informed the writing, and why this story is more relevant than ever.

Broken Angel premiered at ImagineNATIVE, screened at Whistler Film Festival and is now opening up VIWFF (Vancouver International Women in Film Festival). It’s been quite the year, but I understand that this film was quite a few years in the making. Can you tell me more about what the reception for Broken Angel has been like?

Do you remember a time when people were told there was no audience for women’s films? For years, I heard, “No one’s ever going to want to watch a film about a woman fleeing domestic violence.” I heard so much of that over the years and I was just like, “Yes, there is! There’s going to be an audience!” 

This is an important story; this is what we’re still dealing with as Indigenous women, and other women are dealing with it, too. I just kept hearing “no.”

I just brought [this film] into Germany and someone in the audience asked, “Are you going to do a happy story next?” and then someone else told me that they felt that Broken Angel was a hopeful story, so it’s really interesting in terms of people’s perspective of Broken Angel. For some people, it’s really heavy and hard to watch, and then for other audience members, they’re like, “Wow, this is a story about hope and finding the self.” The response has been mixed, obviously, but in a good way. I feel like it really sheds light on an important issue, it’s women-led, and we’re not waiting on any savior to come sweep [the main character] off her feet. 

You’re involved a lot in the upcoming VIWFF, from Broken Angel opening the film festival, to having your short film, MisTik screening, and also a director’s panel. Tell me more about that.

Yeah, on Saturday (March 11), we’ll be talking about our experience as women-identified directors. I’ve been around a long time so I’ve kind of seen the pendulum go from one extreme to the other. I feel like women approach story very differently, in general. We don’t necessarily have to see explicit violence against women on screen anymore and I think a lot of women [directors] are choosing not to go there because it’s like—why is that necessary in terms of pushing the story forward? I feel like we have an opportunity to talk about how we approach sensitive subject matter or Indigenous stories or other things that we’re dealing with. I definitely feel we have a different approach. There’s a shift in the industry, and many of us women have experienced it, so we don’t necessarily need to see that onscreen.

Tell me about the choice to include—and I hate to use this word because it seems to discount what’s very real to many of us—the “supernatural” element of Gracie’s ghost.

I feel like, with Indigenous storytelling, the majority of our stories have the spiritual realm in it anyways, and it’s part of our day-to-day. When we do ceremony, we are talking to our ancestors and people who have passed. 

Sera-Lys [who plays Angel in the film] said something along the lines of, “Indigenous film is its own genre,” because we can have comedy, we can have drama and thrillers, but for the most part they’re always some acknowledgment of the spirit realm. 

Look at Reservation Dogs—they have ancestors, deer women, they have aliens. They introduced the spirit realm as part of the day-to-day, which is kind of cool, and nobody dismisses it. I feel like it’s just part of the storytelling and I think it was necessary to have the ghost have a character arc. She’s also searching and wanting to connect with her granddaughter and her daughter, so I just felt like that was necessary to kind of give her a little bit more.

I thought one thing that was incredible about the film is that there are so many recognizable faces—big Indigenous names. What was it like corralling all that talent?

I tried to have many cameos! Like Quanah Style. I wanted to make sure [the] LGBTQ [community] was acknowledged and represented in Indigenous story. So I thought, Quanah needs to be there, damnit! Then we had Renae Morriseau who was in North of 60, and the X-Files. Carlo [Marks] is a big Hallmark actor who got to play the bad guy [Earl] and then Sera-Lys McArthur—I was like, “I need you to be my Angel!” And then [the character] Tanis is Brooklyn Letexier-Hart. 

We did touch on this already but I want to get a little bit deeper on what made you want to approach the story of domestic violence. I know that you have a social work background and you have your doctorate in social justice, correct? 

I started writing this script back in 2006. I had such access to a world that other people didn’t necessarily have, unless you worked in the social service sector or unless you went and used a shelter at one point in your life. A lot of people don’t know what it’s like to live in a house with 20 other women, sharing a bathroom, dealing with your drama, having to do counseling, signing in and out of the shelter, being scared. I feel like at that particular time no one was listening. This is before we had the acronym: MMIWG (Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls). I was working at the shelter, calling the police, and we were trying to locate these women who had gone missing. I just felt like it was an important story to tell, and it was important for me that the main character was not being saved by any man.

In the native community, we hear a lot of people say, “Oh, let’s tell positive stories. We’re kind of tired of these really dark stories…” but I feel like if we start censoring our stories, then we’re going to silence Indigenous women.

I feel like this film really is a love letter to women survivors and I know that a big part of what you keep saying is, “this is for all the warrior women,” so I just want to know: what is a warrior woman in your lens?

It’s all of us, honestly! Someone asked me this, they asked, “Who are you in the film, Jules?” and I said “I’m all of them.” I am an Angel; Tanis is the little girl that I wish I was when I was small. Tanis is the little fighter that we wish we all were. I think a lot of women, no matter who you are, can relate to that statement. If we have the support to kind of fight for ourselves and have that voice. Dorothy is the security blanket; Dorothy’s the medicine pouch; Dorothy is the auntie; Dorothy is the one who represents being home and ceremony and language. Gracie is also that strength—even in the spirit world, she has to go on this journey. Being a warrior is like a verb. We’re doing it every day. We have to get up, take care of our kids, you gotta work, you have to deal with systemic issues.

I agree! Is there anything else you want to add about Broken Angel?

I wanted to show that [Angel] had to be very strategic in leaving [Earl], so really pay attention to how she gets away. There’s a lot of planning. You’ve got to hide your money, you’ve got to… slow him down. You’ve got to have a safety plan. Strategizing becomes an issue.

Broken Angel opens the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival at the VIFF Centre, March 7 at 7 PM. Get tickets here.