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Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga New Zealand Film Commission congratulates writer-director Danis Goulet, producers Tara Woodbury, Paul Barkin, Ainsley Gardiner and Georgina Conder, co-producer Chelsea Winstanley and executive producers Taika Waititi, Lisa Meeches and Kyle Irving and the entire team behind Canada-New Zealand co-production, indigenous sci-fi feature Night Raiders on its nomination for 11 Canadian Screen Awards.
The film is nominated as Best Motion Picture and Cree-Métis writer- director Danis Goulet is nominated in both the Original Screenplay and Achievement in Direction categories. Goulet is also nominated for the John Dunning Best First Feature Award.
Lead actress Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers received a nomination, as did Gail Maurice whose performance, almost entirely in the Cree language, has been recognised in the Best Supporting Actress category.
Other nominees are Traci Loader for Achievement in Make-Up, Kendra Terpenning for Achievement in Costume Design, Rene Haynes for Achievement in Casting, Lou Solakofski, Graham Rogers, Stephen Marian, Alexis Feodoroff (NZ) and Tim Chaproniere (NZ) for Achievement in Sound Mixing, and Martin Tori, John Mariella, Frank Rueter (NZ) and Darwin Go (NZ) for Achievement in Visual Effects.
Set in 2043, Night Raiders is a female driven dystopian drama about resilience, courage and love. The nail-biting post-war future thriller follows a mother joining an underground band of vigilantes to try and rescue her daughter from a state-run institution.
The Awards will be presented during Canadian Screen Week in April and broadcast on Canadian television.
Produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, Canada Media Fund, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, Ontario Creates, and the New Zealand Film Commission, in association with Bell Media’s Crave and CBC Films, Night Raiders screened at the Berlin, Toronto and New Zealand International Film Festivals in 2021 and was released widely in Canada later that year.
The film will be released in New Zealand by Rialto Distribution on 24 March.