Night Raiders (2021 film)

Night Raiders is a 2021 Canadian-New Zealand science fiction dystopian film written and directed by Danis Goulet.[2] The film stars Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Brooklyn Letexier-Hart, Alex Tarrant, Amanda Plummer and Violet Nelson. Taika Waititi serves as an executive producer.
The film had its worldwide premiere at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival in March 2021.[2]
== Contents ==
* 1Synopsis
* 2Cast
* 3Production
* 4Release
* 5Reception
* 6Awards
* 7References
* 8External links
== Synopsis[edit] ==
Set in a dystopian version of North America in the year 2044, the film centres on Niska (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers), a Cree woman who joins a resistance movement to the military government in order to save her daughter.[3]
== Cast[edit] ==
* Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers as Niska
* Brooklyn Letexier-Hart as Waseese
* Alex Tarrant as Leo
* Amanda Plummer as Roberta
* Violet Nelson as Somonis
* Gail Maurice as Ida
== Production[edit] ==
The film, a coproduction of companies from Canada and New Zealand, is executive produced by Taika Waititi.[4] Goulet has described the film as inspired in part by Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 film Children of Men, as well as by the military response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in 2016;[4] in addition, the film functions in part as an allegory for the Indian residential school system.[5]
The film was shot in the Toronto area in 2019.[3] It was originally slated for commercial release in 2020, but was postponed to 2021 following production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]
== Release[edit] ==
On February 10, 2021, Berlinale announced that the film would have its worldwide premiere at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section, in March 2021.[6][7] It had its Canadian premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival,[8] and is scheduled to screen as the opening film of the 2021 ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.[9]
It premiered commercially in October 2021, with the widest opening of any film by an indigenous director in Canadian film history.[10] It was later released on TVOD platform in 2022.[11]
== Reception[edit] ==
The film was mostly well-received by critics, who praised its cast and storytelling.[12][13] However, the film was also criticized for its reliance on tropes of YA fiction.[14] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 83% approval rating, based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's consensus reads, "Night Raiders strikes grim parallels between its dystopian setting and the present, offering a disturbing reminder that the horrors of the past are often very much still with us."[15]
The film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2021.[16]
== Awards[edit] ==
Award 	Date of ceremony	Category 	Recipient(s) 	Result 	Ref(s)
Directors Guild of Canada 	2021 	DGC Discovery Award 	Danis Goulet 	Won 	[17]
Directors Guild of Canada 	2022 	Best Direction in a Feature Film 	Danis Goulet 	Pending 	[18]
Canadian Screen Awards 	2022 	Best Picture 	Tara Woodbury, Paul Barkin, Ainsley Gardiner, Georgina Conder, Danis Goulet 	Nominated	[19][20]
Canadian Screen Awards 	2022 	Best Director 	Danis Goulet 	Nominated	[19][20]
Canadian Screen Awards 	2022 	Best Actress 	Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers 	Won 	[19][20]
Canadian Screen Awards 	2022 	Best Supporting Actress 	Gail Maurice 	Nominated	[19][20]
Canadian Screen Awards 	2022 	Best Original Screenplay 	Danis Goulet 	Won 	[19][20]
Canadian Screen Awards 	2022 	Best Casting in a Film 	René Haynes 	Nominated	[19][20]
Canadian Screen Awards 	2022 	Best Costume Design 	Kendra Terpenning 	Won 	[19][20]
Canadian Screen Awards 	2022 	Best Makeup 	Traci Loader 	Won 	[19][20]
Canadian Screen Awards 	2022 	Best Sound Mixing 	Lou Solakofski, Graham Rogers, Stephen Marian, Alexis Feodoroff, Tim Chaproniere	Won 	[19][20]
Canadian Screen Awards 	2022 	Best Visual Effects 	Martin Tori, Darwin Go, John Mariella, Frank Reuter 	Won 	[19][20]
Canadian Screen Awards 	2022 	John Dunning Best First Feature 	Danis Goulet 	Nominated	[19][20]
Toronto Film Critics Association	2021 	Rogers Best Canadian Film Award 	Danis Goulet 	Nominated	[21]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle 	2021 	Best Canadian Film 	Night Raiders 	Nominated	[22]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle 	2021 	Best Actress in a Canadian Film 	Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers 	Nominated	[22]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle 	2021 	Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film 	Alex Tarrant 	Nominated	[22]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle 	2021 	Best Supporting Actress in a Canadian Film	Brooklyn Hart 	Nominated	[22]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle 	2021 	Best Supporting Actress in a Canadian Film	Amanda Plummer 	Nominated	[22]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle 	2021 	Best Director of a Canadian Film 	Danis Goulet 	Won 	[23]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle 	2021 	Best Screenplay for a Canadian Film 	Danis Goulet 	Nominated	[22]