MANHUNT

In the vast northern frontier, a displaced man and woman find a cowboy hat. It belongs to Joey, a 19-year-old gamer who has nothing in his life but his violent fantasies and a 3D printed gun. After his graduation, Joey sets out on a road trip across the Canadian wilderness with his best friend and partner-in-crime, Kit. They’re running away from something unnameable, ungraspable – but they soon find out that they can’t outrun what they’ve become.

Inspired by the events of the 2019 Northern British Columbia murders, which launched a nationwide manhunt, Wayne Wapeemukwa’s (Luk’Luk’I) sophomore feature is less interested in representing a true-crime tragedy than it is in investigating how young indoctrinated men have become cannibalised by a culture of toxic masculinity, violence, and alt-right extremist brainrot. Fascism seeps into everything: innocent girls become slutty NPCs, male friendship becomes a threat to heterosexual identity, and a childish cowboy hat becomes a deeper symbol of settler colonialism. Their coming-of-age is one of destruction – eventually, all colour is leached from the screen. Nothing is sanitised. 

Following a premiere in the Main Competition at the 2026 Locarno Film Festival, Manhunt was rejected by a number of Canadian film festivals despite its critical success. We know it’s not an easy film: it is vitriolic, aggressive, and alienating. But Wayne Wapeemukwa’s gaze does not waver, even if it hurts to watch. It’s what makes Manhunt one of the most important Canadian films of the decade. - Mercy Prisca Lam