Jules A. Koostachin

NiiSoTeWak means “walking the path together.” Tapwewin and Pawaken are 10-year-old brothers trying to make sense of the world, their family and each other. They’re already grappling with some heady questions about identity. What does it mean to be a twin? What does it mean to be Cree? How do you define yourself when you’re forever linked to someone else? The twins discuss these questions with their two elder brothers — 22-year-old actor Asivak and 20-year-old basketball player Mahiigan — and their parents, Jules and Jake.

Angela (Sera-Lys McArthur) and Henry (Matthew Kevin Anderson), a young Ottawa couple with a baby on the way, embark on a short trip north to the Cree community of KiiWeeTin to visit Angela’s beloved childhood nanny, Mary (Renae Morriseau). When Angela is harassed by a menacing shadow figure, Mary moves to bless and protect Angela and her unborn child with illegal Cree ceremonies and medicine. And as Angela discovers the truth about both her ancestry and the spectral figure’s identity, she must delve into her newfound spiritual traditions in order to defend herself from her husband’s escalating purity-obsessed racism.

Angel, a once vibrant beautiful Cree woman, becomes weary and spiritless after enduring viscous spiritual, physical, and emotional abuse from her partner Earl.

WaaPaKe is a story about resilience, love and transformation. Examined through an Indigenous lens, the stories of residential school Survivor-Warriors and their families offer an understanding of both intergenerational trauma and healing. We are taken to a studio set-up in front of a green screen. Through compassionate, candid conversations, Jules Koostatchin shares interviews with five individuals, family and friends, that all directly or indirectly experienced intergenerational trauma.