corktown common
Thursday, July 24, 2025

stand by me

With the short film N'xaxaitkw

Cool grass under your feet as the sun goes down is always nostalgic, calling to mind the summers when we were young, and warm nights shared with friends. Rob Reiner’s timeless Stand By Me captures that ephemeral, melancholic feeling perfectly, as an intrepid band of kids embarks on a quest to find a rumoured dead body down by the river - and in the process, come face to face with their own inevitable coming of age and mortality. It’s a tender story of friendship and the joy of misspent youth that doesn’t shy away from the darker side of growing up. So far as we’re concerned, it’s best experienced under the stars.

Cree-Métis Asia Youngman’s short fantasy thriller N'xaxaitkw transports us to the Okanagan Valley, with sun-bathed mountains and glistening waters, where young Indigenous teen Zarya (played by Beans breakout star Kiawentiio) is the new girl in town. She quickly falls in with a group of friends who egg her on to join them in a search for the mysterious lake monster n’x̌ax̌aitkʷ (also known as the Ogopogo). Tapping into the melancholy nostalgia of 80s coming-of-age flicks like Stand By Me, Youngman uses myth to explore the impacts of peer pressure on Indigenous teens’ identity and culture, and the sinister forces lurking underneath.

Live audio description is available at this screening for blind, low vision, or visually impaired audience members, upon request. More information about this accessibility feature is available at TOpictureshow.com/audio. Other accessibility features available at TOPS events, including open captioning, are outlined at TOpictureshow.com/accessibility.