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LAWNYA VAWNYA 15 X SJIWFF PRESENT:
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EVER DEADLY
Ever Deadly is an immersive, visceral music and cinema experience featuring Tanya Tagaq, avant-garde Inuit throat singer, and created in collaboration with award-winning filmmaker Chelsea McMullan. This documentary explores Tagaq’s transformation of sound with an eye to colonial fallout, natural freedom and Canadian history.
We witness Tagaq’s intimate relationship with the Nuna—the Land—a living, breathing organism present in all forms of her improvised performances. Ever Deadly weaves concert footage with stunning sequences filmed on location in Nunavut, seamlessly bridging landscapes, stories and songs with pain, anger and triumph—all through the expressions of one of the most innovative musical performers of our time.
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FEATURING A DISCUSSION WITH THE FILMMAKERS MODERATED BY JANET CULL
TANYA TAGAQ
From Nunavut, Tanya Tagaq is an improvisational singer, avant-garde composer and author. A member of the Order of Canada, Polaris Music Prize and JUNO Award winner and recipient of multiple honorary doctorates, Tagaq is an original disruptor, a world-changing figure at the forefront of seismic social, political and environmental change.
Tagaq's bestselling, award winning debut novel “Split Tooth” has been translated into multiple languages and sold around the world, she released her first children’s book “It Bears Repeating” in 2024, this title was recently included in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program. Her second children’s book “I’d Give You My Tail” comes out in April 2025. A second novel, her fourth book, will come out in 2026. A full-length feature documentary on Tanya’s life, career and art called Ever Deadly debuted at TIFF in 2022. She has also acted in and composed for HBO’s True Detective: Night Country and Netflix series North of North. “Split Tooth” on stage, a collaboration with Kaneza Schaal and Christopher Myers, is scheduled for debut in 2025.
CHELSEA MCMULLAN
Chelsea McMullan (they/them) is a director, writer, and producer based in Toronto. They create documentaries that are visually striking and formally ambitious, with a depth of story and character. Chelsea directed Ever Deadly (TIFF 2022), in collaboration with the Inuk artist, writer, and musician Tanya Tagaq, which was released theatrically in the US by Kino Lorber in
2023. Previous films include My Prairie Home (Sundance 2013), Michael Shannon Michael Shannon John (True/False 2015), and Crystal Pite: Angels’ Atlas (VIFF 2022). They have also directed for television, including episodes of the documentary series This is Pop (Netflix/Crave) and In the Making (CBC).
Their most recent project is Swan Song (CBC/Dogwoof), a verité-driven feature documentary and four-part limited series that follows ballet icon Karen Kain and a group of dancers at The
National Ballet of Canada as the company mounts a new production of Swan Lake. Swan Song premiered in the gala section at TIFF (2023) and was released theatrically in the US and UK in 2024.
Chelsea can often be found playing pickup basketball on courts around the city or walking their dogs Ruby and Zeus.
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JANET CULL
Janet Cull had an immediate impact on the Newfoundland and Labrador music scene upon her arrival in the early 2000’s with the album The Janet Cull Band, which earned MusicNL awards for “Album of the Year” and “Group of the Year”. Her next full-length release, People Get Ready, garnered an ECMA nomination. But it was Janet’s 2016 album Real Tough Love that found her reaching new heights. On top of bringing her three more MusicNL awards, it brought her to stages all across the world including opening spots for Marianas Trench and the legendary k.d. lang.
In late 2021 Janet released her much anticipated new album, Hear It; an album that at its heart is a reflection of her (and our) often complicated relationships, expressed through a voice unlike any other in Canada. With a recent ECMA nomination for Soul Recording of the Year, and touring plans in 2022, Janet is now poised to make her mark everywhere.
Beyond music, Janet has performed in a variety of musical theatre productions and in recent years Janet has begun making in-roads into film and television, including appearances in Frontiers (Netflix) in 2019 and the 2020 feature film, “Body and Bones”.
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