Canadian genocide.
Those two words 鈥� controversial to some, inarguable to others 鈥� were used repeatedly in a government report released earlier this year by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. described the violence, trauma and systemic neglect faced by Indigenous women and girls over the decades. It made more than 200 recommendations, and noted that while the number of Indigenous women and girls who鈥檝e gone missing is estimated to exceed 4,000, there鈥檚 no way to actually know the true number, and it鈥檚 probably far higher.
Disturbing as it is, the report only paints one kind of portrait 鈥� the kind that鈥檚 comprised of facts and footnotes. It doesn鈥檛 immerse us in the Indigenous women and girls in Canada. It doesn鈥檛 communicate the toll that living in the midst of a simmering colonial genocide can have on your soul.
Government reports can鈥檛 go there. Art, on the other hand, can go where government reports are unable to tread.
Spirit Glitch goes there. The recently released short film from Vancouver-based filmmaker and actress Mary Galloway expresses the impact of colonial genocide on Indigenous women and girls by taking us into the interior life of a woman (The Flash鈥檚 Jessica Parker Kennedy) who is struggling to hold her spirit together in the midst of relationship and colonial violence, homophobia, intolerance and psychic and psychological stress.
鈥淢issing and murdered Indigenous women and girls are constantly on my mind,鈥� says Galloway, who is from the Cowichan Tribes on 麻豆传媒映画Island. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 not apparent [in my work], it鈥檚 underlying. It鈥檚 in our bodies.鈥�
Spirit Glitch is one of 30 films that received funding earlier this year from Storyhive as part of its first-ever Indigenous Storyteller Edition. Each awarded project received $20,000 in production funding, as well as support, mentorship and training.
View Spirit Glitch on YouTube below: 聽
Galloway鈥檚 previous films have similarly dealt with the inner lives of Indigenous women and girls. She wrote and starred in 2016鈥檚 Ariel Unraveling, about a girl who grew up banished to a basement with a single fairytale film to watch 鈥� and she made her directorial debut with 2017鈥檚 Unintentional Mother, about the bond between an Indigenous nanny and a white child who are both abused.
鈥淚 want to tell stories that are aimed at women, and women who are going through struggles and hard times, and show them that they鈥檙e not alone, that they鈥檙e not the only people going through this tough world that holds them down and puts them in a box and labels them,鈥� says Galloway, who won the On Set Headsets Newcomer Award from Women in Film and Television 麻豆传媒映画in 2016 and co-wrote the season three finale of CBC鈥檚 Burden of Truth, which will air this winter.
Galloway鈥檚 abiding mandate is to write stories that have female leads. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e doing something other than finding a perfect husband and falling in love and living happily ever after. I can鈥檛 tell any other story because that鈥檚 the only thing that speaks to me. Maybe one day I鈥檒l write that story but for now, that鈥檚 all I鈥檓 interested in.鈥�
Spirit Glitch represents Galloway鈥檚 first time directing a film while remaining firmly behind the camera. 鈥淚 think I鈥檝e really found my voice as a director,鈥� says Galloway. 鈥淲hen people say, 鈥極h, you act, write, direct, what鈥檚 your main goal?鈥� I say, 鈥業 want to write, direct and act. I want to do all three.鈥� In a perfect world, I want to be able to alternate between all three throughout the year, because each one fulfills me in a different way.鈥�
Spirit Glitch is currently available for streaming on the Storyhive YouTube channel as well as on Telus Optik VOD. It will have its film festival premiere at imagineNATIVE in Toronto on Oct.25.
Galloway hopes that the film will speak to both Indigenous and settler audiences.
鈥淚 created it in a way where I felt that whatever people need to get out of it, hopefully they鈥檒l find it,鈥� she says. 鈥淔or me, I always like to watch a show where I walk away feeling heard or seen, so for this, I hope that there are people who watch it who feel heard and seen. I think the struggles that Alice is battling are universal.鈥�
Peruse the full list of Storyhive projects at .
