Endless Cookie, a new animation from half-brothers Seth and Peter Scriver, offers a hallucinatory and affectionate look at the lives of a Canadian Cree Indigenous family. The film, which took nine years to complete, blends the irreverent humour of Cheech and Chong with the narrative digressions of Tristram Shandy.
Animator Seth visits the Shamattawa First Nation community in Manitoba to record the stories of his half-brother Peter, whose mother was First Nations. Peter's tales range from teepee construction to a botched murder stakeout involving a caribou, and from his punk days in 1980s Toronto to a saga about mangling his hand in an animal trap.
The animation style is described as 'SpongeBob SquarePants after an afternoon smoking DMT', with characters sporting wobbly noses and the film's funder appearing as a talking slide rule. The film consistently interrupts itself and pokes fun at its own creation, including the lengthy production process.
Despite its loopy surface, Endless Cookie touches on serious themes such as police racism, land theft, and ancestral continuity, all delivered with a palpable love for the community. The film is a unique addition to the push for diverse representation in cinema.
