Night Raiders

Night Raiders is set in 2043, in a North America under military occupation where children have become property of the state. Niska, a Cree woman, is separated from her daughter Waseese when the girl is taken into a state-run academy that turns children into soldiers. Refusing to accept this, Niska joins an underground group of vigilantes and resistance fighters who plan to infiltrate the academy and bring the children out.

The film is a Canadian and New Zealand co-production directed and written by Danis Goulet, her debut feature. Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers plays Niska, with Brooklyn Letexier-Hart as Waseese and supporting turns from Alex Tarrant, Amanda Plummer, Gail Maurice and Violet Nelson. Produced by Georgina Allison Conder, Paul Barkin and Ainsley Gardiner, it runs 101 minutes and was released in October 2021.

Audience response on TMDB is muted, with a rating of 4.9 out of 10 from 53 votes, suggesting the film found a limited viewership rather than a broad one. Night Raiders draws on Indigenous experience and the legacy of residential schools to build its dystopian premise, and Goulet's script keeps its focus on a mother's determination to recover her child.