Welcome to the The Hot Seat.
Every month we will feature a filmmaker who is redefining West Coast filmmaking. It's time we start shining that ever elusive spotlight onto those in our community who are at the forefront of the BC Indie Revolution.
Each featured filmmaker will answer the same 10 questions, giving insight into their minds, inspirations, aspirations and dreams. The first five questions are rapid fire. Quick. Juicy. Intriguing. The last 5 are more profound, insightful, all about filmmaking.
This month, we're inviting local filmmaking visionary Rylan Friday to brave the Hot Seat. Let's dive in!
Rylan Friday (Saulteaux Ojibway/Plains Cree/Métis) is an award-winning director, writer, producer, and curator from Cote First Nation, Saskatchewan. He is dedicated to bringing honest LGBTQ2+ and Indigenous representation to the big screen, staying true to his own experiences. Rylan produced Trevor Mack’s Portraits From a Fire and launched a mentorship program for Indigenous youth. He received the Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award and the Leo Award for Best Motion Picture for his work on Mack’s debut feature.
Rylan’s short film Terror/Forming has been highly acclaimed, winning Best Short Horror Film at the 2023 London Independent Film Festival and Best BC Short at the Vancouver Horror Show. It has screened at renowned festivals including VIFF, Fantastic Fest, LA Skins, Māoriland, Portland International, and imagineNATIVE. With a background in radio broadcasting, Rylan understands the importance of storytelling from an Indigenous perspective, infusing his work with surrealism inspired by art-house cinema while maintaining grounded realism for authentic performances.
In 2020, he became the first openly gay, Indigenous, and person of colour to lead VIFF’s Catalyst Mentorship Program. He also founded the successful #Indigeneity series for Reel Causes, curated the Who We Are Indigenous Film Series, and currently serves as Indigenous Programming Consultant for the Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival.
Most recently, Rylan was selected for the Banff Indigenous Screenwriters Residency and represented Canada at the Cannes Marché du Film as part of the Indigenous Screen Office delegation. He has completed Musk. and The Sound of You Collapsing and, building on the success of Terror/Forming, is developing his debut feature, Terror/Rising.
Director - Rylan Friday
1. What is the first film you can remember having an effect on you?
Cloverfield was one of the first films that really had an effect on me. The raw, found-footage style made the horror feel immediate and intimate, like you were living inside the chaos with the characters. It wasn’t just about the monster—it was about the atmosphere, the characters, the tension, and how fear could feel so grounded in reality. The motion sickness was worth it! That experience pulled me into horror in a new way and showed me how the genre can be a powerful template for social commentary. I appreciate the franchise's unconventional approach to storytelling!
2. If you could work with one filmmaker, dead or alive, who would it be?
Whenever I get asked this question, my brain just freezes. Jordan Peele stands out the most. His ability to blend horror with sharp social commentary is exactly the kind of space I want my own films to live in. He creates work that entertains while making audiences reflect on deeper truths, and that balance of genre and meaning is something I deeply admire and strive for in my own storytelling. What he has done for the black community, I aspire to do the same for Indigenous and Queer cinema!
3. If you could remake any film, what would it be and what would you change?
Still from "Musk" - Directed by Rylan Friday
I’m a firm believer in the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”. The films I admire most are the ones that stand strong in their own right, and I don’t feel the need to change them. I would like to focus on the originality I bring to the table and how the films I love influence the stories I want to tell. I'm all for reclaiming and taking up space in my own right, if you like it or not.
4. What is your biggest passion outside of being a filmmaker?
Outside of filmmaking, my biggest passion is working out—specifically recreational bodybuilding. It’s a space where I can turn my brain off, clear my head, push myself, and build discipline in a different way. There’s something really creative about shaping your body through consistency and dedication, and it gives me the same sense of focus and release that I get from storytelling. It’s become a grounding practice that balances out the chaos of filmmaking. I have to remind myself, there’s more to life than your career!
5. What are you working on now?
Director Rylan Friday on set of TerrorForming.
Right now I’m developing my first directorial feature, Terror/Rising—a IndigiQueer Horror told in a continuous shot. I’m in the writing process! This past May, I had the surreal experience of bringing the project to Cannes as part of the Indigenous Screen Office delegation, and even being featured in Variety—something I never saw coming. Those moments caught me completely off guard, but they reminded me that Indigenous genre storytelling has an important place on the world stage, and that’s the space I’m determined to carve out.
6. Creatively, what inspires you to continue your journey in filmmaking?
Filmmaking has always been medicine for me. Writing allows me to process my experiences and make sense of the world, while also creating space where others can feel seen. In sharing my films, I’m sharing my stories and my medicine (films) with the audience. My hope is that everyone walks away from my films feeling like they’re seen. That is what inspires me the most, to create and push beyond my comfort zone to be a better filmmaker.
7. Who are your frequent collaborators and what do they bring to your projects?
Director Rylan Friday on set of Terror/Forming
Oh god, can this newsletter be a two-parter? haha! I have so much love to give! My cousins and producers, Cole Vandale and Jordan Waunch, have been with me since Terror/Forming in 2020, and now we’re building the feature together. Both Cole and Jordan are incredible collaborators, they not only contribute to the story with their creativity and resourcefulness, but also bring a deep sense of cultural safety to the process, which means everything to me.
I also have mad love for my pal Andrew Dixon, who’s been my sound designer across all three of my projects. He knows me well enough to anticipate what I’m looking for in certain soundscapes, and I trust him to go all out creatively. Andrew has elevated my films in ways I couldn’t have imagined—his work has made me laugh, cry, and, of course, jump out of my seat from his perfectly timed scares.
And lastly, Kate Kroll, she’s like a sister to me. We produced Portraits From a Fire together, and she’s got such a big heart. She cares deeply about the story, always wants the best for the project, and knows her stuff inside out. On top of being a producer and director, she’s also a mother, a burlesque dancer, and a wrestler. Her hustle is just amazing!
Also big special shout out to Conan Jurek Karpinski, Diana Parry, Carolyn Yonge, Eric Sanderson, Chris Reed and Shonna Vass! See, I can go on forever, I fan girl over everyone!
8. As a Filmmaker, how do you measure success?
Still from Terror/Forming - Directed by Rylan Friday
Honestly, I would rather be a shot of whiskey at a tea party. I want to go down smooth, AND I want to burn. My point is that who I am as a person and my art isn’t meant for everybody and that’s okay. My work isn’t meant to be polite or universally loved, and I don’t need it to be. If it unsettles someone, that’s on them, not me.
Success for me is measured by how deeply my stories resonate: emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. If even one audience member tells me that my film spoke to them, or if an IBPOC or LGBTQ2S+ youth approaches me during my Indigenous Horror workshops in the Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows school district and says that seeing a IndigiQueer role model in film brings them comfort, then I know I’ve done my job. For me, that kind of impact says more than any accolades, because it means the work is living where it matters most.