Kaniehtiio Horn discusses ritual torture in his debut film ‘Seeds’, Biting

With SeedsMohawk-Canadian actor Kaniehtiio Horn has embraced the Indigenous horror-thriller genre, with a comedic twist.

“I didn’t want to make a film about trauma,” he said. Dog reservation The actor tells The Hollywood Reporter She talked about her directorial debut, a genre-bending home invasion film that she wrote, produced and starred in. And she wants the audience at the world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival to laugh.

With all my heart. And at the right times. Horn says laughter abounds in Native culture and communities, no matter how diverse the tribes and language groups are. It’s especially about laughing with others and not being laughed at by them: “Oh my God, we’re funny! We can make fun of each other, but always in a teasing way. And always in a loving way.”

And before writing the Seeds script, Horn never considered jumping into the director’s chair. But after playing the Deer Lady on FX’s series Dog reservation and Tanis on Hulu LetterkennyHorn was tired of waiting for someone to give him a leading role.

“I really wanted to prove that I could direct a movie,” she says. Fellow Canadian Jacob Tierney and other friends quickly dispelled her doubts about directing her script herself. “I felt like everyone believed in me more than I believed in myself. So I thought, ‘OK, I’ll direct it too,’” Horn adds of Seedswhere she had originally imagined her character, Ziggy, fighting a villain determined to steal corn and bean seeds from the family home.

“I just wanted to make a stupid movie about stoners. And then I wondered what it meant if you really dissected what those seeds meant. I didn’t plan for that to happen,” she says. SeedsZiggy, a Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) woman in her 30s, starts out as an online influencer in the big city promoting Nature’s Oath, a seed and fertilizer company. But that’s before Ziggy is called back to her reserve by a carefree cousin, and a shaky internet connection for the social media diva leads to some early laughs.

“At first I was just sitting at home. But what did the bad guys want? It would be kind of funny if they wanted seeds. And then there were corn seeds, beans seeds, and squash seeds, because that means a lot to my people,” Horn recalls.

Eventually, the seeds Ziggy was meant to protect took on a totemic power as they became a symbol of her family’s indigenous heritage. And fighting to protect those seeds was about discovering her inner warrior.

All this has Seeds Horn’s directorial effort ultimately conveys a deeper message about family amid the evil of big corporate agriculture, and it’s all wrapped up in scenes that include ritual torture and cannibalism.

“I included the torture scene because it’s something that interests me,” Horn adds, recalling…