SKINS GAME Heads into Production with All Star Indigenous Cast

Skins Game, the dramatic debut feature from Jon B. Elliott and written by Justin Neal, has gone to camera in Vancouver, BC.

The films cast includes prestigious Indigenous talent including Forrest Goodluck (How to Blow Up a Pipeline), Phillip Forest Lewitski (Die My Love, Bones Of Crows), Carmen Moore (Meadowlarks, The Flash), Taylor Kinequon (In the Blink of an Eye), Joel D. Montgrand (True Detective) and William Belleau (Killers Of The Flower Moon). Rounding out the cast are Matthew Alan Taylor (Bon Cop, Back Cop) and Jen Oleksiuk (DC Legends of Tomorrow). Photon Films is on board as the Canadian distributor.

Road Trip

In Skins Game, two young Indigenous men meet in a downtown Vancouver jail under wildly different circumstances: Jesse, a white-passing mixed race Coast Salish college student, alienated from his culture, is jailed after a drunken altercation, and Russell, a political activist and graffiti artist from New Mexico, for painting a politically charged mural. Despite their profoundly dissimilar upbringings, Jesse and Russell discover they are kindred spirits. Upon release, the duo embark on a cross-border roadtrip to New Mexico. While journeying through hostile territory, the two men grapple with their personal demons and identities.

Vandal Productions and Pass Through Productions produce Skins Game. Jon B. Elliott (The Knowing, Amplify)directs with Justin Neal (The Traveller) writing. Produced by Cole Vandale (Terror/Forming), Jessie Anthony (Brother, I Cry), executive producers are Oystercatcher Films Inc.’s Patti Poskitt (Angela’s Shadow), Justin Neal, Jon B. Elliott, Mark Slone, Sardé Hardie, Forrest Goodluck and Phillip Forest Lewitski. Kaayla Whachell (Portraits From a Fire) is Director of Photography.

TIFF Market

Skins Game producer Jessie Anthony will be in Toronto shopping the film at the TIFF Market on behalf of Vandal Productions and Pass Through Productions.

The film is currently shooting across British Columbia in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Mission, Langley, Surrey, Kamloops and Merritt. Skins Game was made possible through the support of Telefilm Canada, Creative BC, Canada Arts Council and Photon Films.