Bretten Hannam’s Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) centers on two Mi’kmaw brothers whose fractured past resurfaces in disturbing ways. The film debuted at TIFF 2025.
The story opens with youthfully cast Mise’l (Skyler Cope) behind the wheel while young Antle (Atuen MacIsaac) panics in the passenger seat. A glimpse of bloodied knuckles establishes that the brothers carry a violent childhood trauma into adulthood.
As adults, Mise’l (Blake Alec Miranda) has built a life as a queer cook in the city and appears distant from his family. Antle (Forrest Goodluck) remains in their small community as a single father with a young daughter.
Mise’l returns after a terrifying workplace encounter with a menacing spirit, an event that forces the brothers to confront their shared past. The creature—rendered as an ash-like, humanoid figure whose touch leaves a poisonous burn—is both beautiful and unsettling.
Their reunion launches a quest into the woods to find a cave and attempt a reckoning. The film relies on repeated flashbacks to make the childhood abuse and its ripple effects clear rather than on a conventional mystery plot.
At the Place of Ghosts favors mood, ritual, and connect...