Jon B. Elliott’s dramatic debut feature went to camera this week in Vancouver, bringing together a stacked cast of Indigenous talent for a cross-border road trip story about identity and belonging.

Forrest Goodluck (The Revenant, How to Blow Up a Pipeline) and Phillip Forest Lewitski (Die My Love, Bones Of Crows) lead the film as two young Indigenous men who meet in a downtown Vancouver jail. Jesse, a white-passing mixed race Coast Salish college student alienated from his culture, lands there after a drunken fight. Russell, a political activist and graffiti artist from New Mexico, gets locked up for painting a politically charged mural. Despite wildly different upbringings, the two connect and hit the road to New Mexico, navigating hostile territory while grappling with personal demons.

The cast also includes Carmen Moore (Meadowlarks), Joel D. Montgrand (True Detective), and William Belleau (Killers Of The Flower Moon).

Photon Films is distributing in Canada. Producer Jessie Anthony is heading to the TIFF Market to shop the film for U.S. and international distribution on behalf of Vandal Productions and Pass Through Productions.

Skins Game is shooting across British Columbia through September, backed by Telefilm Canada, Creative BC, and the Canada Arts Council. It’s the kind of indie production that puts Indigenous stories and voices front and center, no compromise.