It takes a special team and immense talent to create a film or show so intimate and realistic that audiences feel like they are among the characters, experiencing a little slice of someone’s life. This is the perfect way to describe “KIN.”
Focusing on a group of 2SLGBTQ+ Indigenous youth, “KIN” explores themes like community, identity, and love while keeping the storylines realistic and down-to-earth. The series takes audiences inside a tight-knit group during a weekend filled with drama.
Series lead Aalayna and show co-writer and director Justin Ducharme joined Queer & Now to discuss the new series, the narratives their team carefully curated and the importance of portraying a tender representation of queer, Indigenous love.
EXPLORING LIFE & LOVE FOR QUEER INDIGENOUS YOUTH IN TORONTO
The series closely follows friends Tye (Ta’kaiya Blaney) and Ellie (Aalayna) through the trials and tribulations of what feels like a week, but is really just 48 hours. Set in present-day Toronto, the mini-series explores real conflicts and scenes of queer community and tenderness.
Lead actor Aalayna explained the personal importance of taking on this role.
“There aren’t stories like this told in mainstream media. So, it was important for me to be as authentic as I can in this position,” Aalayna explained.
“It’s telling an authentic story of a trans woman, and a lot of the time trans women are missing from the conversation in stories like this. So, it was refreshing to take on a role with a trans story in the forefront.”
Ducharme agreed, explaining that something else that sets this series apart from other media focused on Indigenous stories is the modern setting.
“You don’t see a lot of those narratives exist, especially within a contemporary setting, which is how we set KIN. Engaging with social media, the internet, all of those things,” Ducharme said.
“I think it was important for us to place queer, Indigenous identities in the present, in the now, and not something in the past.”
KIN was created by an all-Indigenous cast and crew who focused on creating an authentic, tender representation of queer, Indigenous life.
“It really centres this communicative and meaningful care that queer, Indigenous folks have for one another,” Ducharme said,
Ducharme takes a lot of pride in creating a story that centres around queer, Indigenous love, with scenes that bring audiences into the community. That love was Ducharme’s favourite part of making KIN.
“It feels rooted in realism. Like it feels almost tangible,” he said. “It’s such a realistic example of the way young queer folk move throughout the world.”
KIN premiered at the 2023 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival and the team is currently looking for a platform to share this touching series with the public.
