- Own Voice
Blood Quantum
The term “blood quantum” refers to a colonial system enforced on Indigenous peoples in North America which determines their individual status and rights based on their “percentage” of Indigenous ancestry. It is a tool of control, assimilation and erasure of Indigenous peoples.
In this brilliantly provocative horror film set in an isolated Mi’kmaq community, the Indigenous population remains immune to a raging zombie virus infecting the surrounding white population.
Blood soaked, fast paced and darkly comic, Blood Quantum is a wild ride using the zombie genre as a vehicle to explore white supremacy, colonialism, genocide and Indigenous self-determination.
Director
Jeff Barnaby (Mi’qmaw)
Barnaby’s films paint an urgent and unflinching portrait of Indigenous life and culture. His shorts include the Genie Nominated File Under Miscellaneous, the Jutra nominee The Colony and the Sundance selection From Cherry English. He also directed the feature films Rhymes for Young Ghouls and Blood Quantum, which both premiered at TIFF and won over 13 awards collectively. Following his death from cancer in 2022, imagineNATIVE launched the Jeff Barnaby Grant, a program to support new works by emerging Indigenous filmmakers, and he was named as a posthumous recipient of the Board of Directors Tribute Award at the CSAs in 2024.
Writer
Jeff Barnaby (Mi’qmaw)
Cast
Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot/Sámi), Michael Greyeyes (Plains Cree), Forrest Goodluck (Diné/Mandan/Hidatsa/Tsimshian)
Producers
John Christou, Robert Vroom
Genres
Action/Adventure, Drama, Horror
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Indigenous Filmmaker
Original Languages
English, Other Language
Language Versions
EN CC, EN Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
Elevation Pictures
