In 2018, Sgaawaay K'uuna, or Edge of the Knife, first premiered to the public at the Toronto International Film Festival.¹ It is the first film performed completely in the Haida language and about the Haida people, a First Nations tribe native to the Haida Gwaii archipelago off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. It was directed by Gwaii Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown in collaboration with Leonie Sandercock, a Professor at the University of British Columbia.

The film is a unique example of how film can be used to preserve and revive traditions otherwise lost to the colonizing hand of history. It was created with the goal of revitalizing the Haida language, and it is being used to teach the language today.²

The film is a thriller and horror, depicting the Haida legend of the Gaagiixiid, or the wildman. Set in the 19th century, Edge of the Knife follows Adiits'ii, a young and irresponsible man attending an annual fishing retreat on the island of Haida Gwaii. During this retreat, he accidentally causes the death of Gaas, a young boy and son of Adiits'ii's best friend. Adiits'ii disappears into the wilderness, grieving and guilted over the young child's death. In the year that follows, he becomes Gaagiixiid, or the wildman.³ 

"They say a fire calls you into the forest. The cold will make you desperate for fire. But no matter how long you run, you cannot catch the fire. You and run and run until your mind is sick and the spirits take you over. You become wild. You become Gaagiixid."

— Edge of the Knife³

The opening lines from the film describe the Gaagiixiid, familiarizing both Haida and wider audiences alike with the legend of the wildman. They are, of course, spoken in Haida, a beautiful and melodic language that enhances the gorgeous cinematography. Edge of the Knife is a story about fatherhood, coping with depression and trauma, and most importantly, community. When the families return to Haida Gwaii the following year for another fishing retreat, they work together to find Adiits'ii and banish the spirit that has turned him into the wildman. This sense of community is reflected both on-screen and in the production of this film. 

Edge of the Knife represents the joined efforts of multiple Haida member councils, as shown in the opening credits,³ to represent Haida language and legends. Monica Butler, in recounting the history of Indigenous representations in media, observes that "the media routinely disregards its Native audience while promoting familiar, inaccurate, and profitable stereotypes of Indigenous peoples for its primarily non-Indigenous audience."⁴ A few examples of such harmful representations of Indigenous people in horror include the trope of the haunted ancient Indian burial ground, appearing in wildly popular films like The Shining (1980) and Poltergeist (1982). Dr. Kali Simmons, an Oglala Lakota Indigenous studies scholar, comments on the nature of '80s horror films in a presentation she gave in 2021 (which is available to watch here):

 "There's a turn towards sympathetic representations…but ultimately, they would also continue to traffic in this idea that Native people were objects of the past, which doesn't help. So, rather than maybe allowing Indigenous people to tell their own stories, these narratives primarily developed to sort of allay guilt around the Anglo dispossession of Indigenous peoples."⁵

One way that this "Anglo guilt" manifests is through the trope of the ancient Indian burial ground, wherein Natives who were mistreated, disenfranchised, and murdered seek revenge on white protagonists in these horror films. "In terms of how these fit into previous trends…again, Indigenous peoples are rendered as these extinct objects of the past."⁴ By reducing Indigenous representation to angry ghosts and creepy skeletons, horror films like these create an audience perception that Indigenous people are no longer around. This attitude, among many other factors such as residential schools, contributes to the cultural loss of Indigenous people who are still alive today. This cultural loss includes the very real extinction of Indigenous languages, like the Haida language. 

Before production began on Edge of the Knife, fewer than one percent of the Haida were fluent in the language, with most speakers over the age of 70.¹ This film was effectively produced during a cultural and linguistic crisis, and it's for this very reason that horror films like Edge of the Knife need to continue to be made, funded, and supported by viewers.

You can watch this visually stunning and linguistically unique film on Shudder.

Footnotes:

1. Sandercock, L. (2018, September 5). TIFF premiere: Sgaawaay K'uuna, the first feature film about the Haida people. The Conversation. The Conversation TIFF premiere: Sgaawaay K'uuna, the first feature film about the Haida people .
2. Stewart, B. (2017, November 2). Haida goes Hollywood: Making a film — and trying to save a language. CBC News. CbcHaida goes Hollywood: Making a film — and trying to save a language | CBC News
3. Edenshaw, G. & Haig-Brown, H. (Directors). (2018). SGaawaay K'uuna [Edge of the Knife] [Film]. Niijang Xyaalas Productions.
4. Butler, M. (2018). Guardians of the Indian Image. American Indian Quarterly, 42(1), 1-42.
5. Fantasia International Film Festival. (2021, August 7). [ Fantasia 2021 ] Haunting the National Consciousness: The Rise of Indigenous Horror [Video]. YouTube. YouTube [Fantasia 2021] Haunting the National Consciousness: The Rise of Indigenous Horror .

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