“Ancestral Beasts,” in which a young Métis woman, Elyse, is stalked by a grotesque creature after returning to her ancestral home to focus on her mental health, prowled Cannes’ Marché du Film in 2025 as a Proof of Concept project at Fantasia’s Frontières Platform and became the first acquisition for Cercamon’s new genre sales label Vorteks.
This week, the project emerges as a fully formed psychological horror film ready to connect with audiences, kindle buyer conversations, and make you look under the bed just one more time.
Ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 22, Métis writer-director Tim Riedel has shared the trailer exclusively with Variety and offered new insights into his work.
Riedel is hosting the Fantasia premiere screening with stars Morgan Holmstrom (“Outlander”), who plays Elyse, and Asivak Koostachin (“Duster”), who plays Cody, along with key producers and crew.
“Ancestral Beasts,” which was lensed in Manitoba in late 2025 and boasts a nearly all-Indigenous cast and crew, has a second screening (a rarity for Fantasia) on July 28. Mongrel Media has boarded the film for Canadian distribution; a release date has yet to be set.
