Subversives: “Blood Quantum”

It is 1981. Beyond the borders of the isolated reservation community of Red Crow, the dead are coming back to life. The only ones who seem immune from the zombie plague are the reservation’s Mi’gmaq residents, who find themselves forced to ward off the ravenous, non-Native hordes. In this subversive and timely take on the zombie flick, writer/director Jeff Barnaby turns historical and popular narratives of contagion on their heads. With plenty of gumption and gore, Blood Quantum confronts the violent—and very much unfinished—history of Canadian settler-colonialism, striking at the disastrous legacy of colonial “blood quantum” laws.

In this virtual event, writer/director Jeff Barnaby joins Métis writer, lawyer and activist Chelsea Vowel, author of Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada, and moderator Tyler Morgenstern (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of Blood Quantum.

Blood Quantum can be streamed on Shudder. The first 150 guests to register for this webinar will receive a link to an online screener for the film two days prior to the event.

This virtual event will take place on Zoom. The event is free but prior registration is required.