Regina-born actor stars in Indigenous movie about domestic abuse, survival

Actor Sera-Lys McArthur, from Pheasant Rump Nakota Nation in Saskatchewan, can list many talents on her resumé.

She has acted in television shows such as Outlander and Burden of Truth; she has lent her voice to a video game character based on her own Nakoda heritage and modelled this year at New York Fashion Week.

She can now add starring in a feature film to the list.

McArthur portrays the lead character in Broken Angel, a film by Jules Koostachin about a Cree woman deciding to escape a domestic violence situation to make her life, and that of her 13-year-old daughter, better.

She said many people will likely relate to Angel due to being in a similar situation or knowing someone who has been through similar experiences to Angel's.

"I think [what's] important [is what] we see this character overcome — all of these difficult challenges just show that it's not easy and it's not something that happens overnight," she said.

The film features both English and Cree, but McArthur's character doesn't speak much Cree, she said. She said the film portrays a healing process with Angel getting back in touch with her roots and her community.

She said she did a lot of "absolutely necessary" preparation for the role as the filming schedule was only 12 days long and this is one of her more intense roles.

"That's saying a lot because I do a lot of really intense roles and that's why I felt up to the task," she said.

She added that working with an Indigenous cast and crew made her feel she was "in safe hands as an artist and a storyteller."

Director, writer and producer Koostachin is a Cree woman from the Attawapiskat First Nation in Northern Ontario.

She said as an Indigenous filmmaker, she had to do a lot with a little for Broken Angel.

"There needs to be more of a shift in the industry where we can be acknowledged for the work we do with very limited resources," she said.

She had been pitching the script since 2006, but she said a lot of people she pitched it to told her people don't want to hear tragic stories.

"I just finally said 'I'm gonna do this for myself' and I found an executive producer and stuff and we just did it," she said.

"It was about time that we told the story. It [was] meant to be, many, many years after. Even in production it was difficult, but we did it."

Inspired by work at Indigenous woman's shelter

Koostachin said she got the idea for a film when she was working in social services in the early 2000s.

"I was running an Indigenous woman shelter — I was inspired by the time that I was working with the women and their stories of resiliency and strength and all the barriers that they faced," she said.

"It just blew me away sometimes when we would sit around the kitchen table to tell stories and laugh, just knowing the journey that these women have been on was quite incredible that they were still able to gather and talk and share stories and cook for each other and stuff like that. So it just really kind of inspired me to write a story or write a script that honoured that journey and their truth."

Koostachin said on set, smudging and prayers took place daily and that added to the connections between cast and crew. She said this experience was different than other projects she worked on.

"[In this film] we didn't really have to explain why we were doing what we were doing," she said.

"It was just our protocol, we just kind of understood the importance of the story.... It was just kind of nice to just be and create art."

The film premiered at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto, and is nominated for awards at the upcoming American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco.

Koostachin is nominated for best director, her son Asivik Koostachin is nominated for best actor, and McArthur is nominated for best actress.

"People are having dialogue that may potentially open other doors for us, especially Sera-Lys because I think she's an incredible, incredible talent," Koostachin said.

Broken Angel will screen in Regina Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST at the Southland Mall Cineplex theatre. McArthur, who is currently in New York, is unable to attend but she said she will be there in spirit.