THE BEGUILING  is an NYU thesis short film by Anishinaabe writer/director ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby.  It is lensed by award-winning Diné cinematographer and filmmaker, Shaandiin Tome.

Sparks fly between Billy and Riley on their first date. Both from small towns, they might have found the community they’re yearning for in each other. After Riley invites Billy up to her apartment, red flags are raised and ignored, leading to deadly consequences. 

A genre-bending film that takes creative risks while examining native identity, intimacy and the dark side of cultural appropriation.

My name is ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby, and I am an Anishinaabe filmmaker and citizen of the Kchi Wiikwedong Anishinaabek (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians). I am originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan and I’m currently a thesis student at NYU in the graduate film department. 

During the pandemic, I almost gave up on filmmaking due to the depression and anxiety I was facing. It was a tough time, and I turned away from film–I lost track of why I chose this career in the first place. But then I posted Nimkii, a small 16mm filmmaking exercise from my first semester at NYU–a short black and white film about a young 6-year-old Native girl who discovers she has superpowers. When I posted the film on Facebook, hundreds of people shared it as it made the rounds on NDN Country Facebook. People from all over, across all ages, commented and shared stories about how empowering it was for them to witness a young Native girl discovering her superpowers. And that's when I remembered why I pursued filmmaking in the first place–to make something that leaves a lasting impression on the audience. To ignite important conversations across communities. To empower the next generation of Native youth to find their power. To critique the status quo and have fun while doing it.

My filmmaking has been a vehicle for exploration. Through my films, I’ve explored love, identity, reconnection, ancestral superpowers, social justice, and even holiday revenge stories. In the past, I’ve taken part in the Sundance Native Lab, where I made my first short film, Mino Bimaadiziwin (2017), a love story about an Anishnaabe man reconnecting with his community. My latest film, Happy Thanksgiving (2022), was a dark comedy about an Anishinaabe man who takes a Happy Thanksgiving wish from a bank teller so personally, he crafts a revenge plan.  As I've grown in my craft, I've found myself drawn to genre films, particularly romance, horror and dark comedy. My latest project will explore the unlikely combination of rom-com and horror. Inspired by filmmakers like Jeff Barnaby–I believe genre films are the perfect vehicle for exploring the complex heavy issues that our communities must grapple with, while still entertaining audiences. 

The Beguiling is a romantic comedy that takes a dark turn–forcing us to consider important questions about the stakes of cultural appropriation. Through its storyline, the film raises important questions about appropriation that are relevant not just to Native communities but to many marginalized communities of color. As said by Paul Robeson, “artists are the gatekeepers of truth. We are civilizations' radical voice,” this film doesn’t shy away from this sentiment, but rather embraces it.

By using a romantic comedy as an accessible entryway for this discussion, this film is an invitation for audiences to question and grapple with important questions related to identity. 

We hope you can join us along for the ride. 

We are relying on the power of friends, family and community to raise money for this film.  Funds will be used to cover our production costs, paying our cast, feeding our team, equipment and to pay our editor, colorist, sound designer an equitable wage, and cover the costs of film festival applications.

Your support will also help us bring our film to community and educational spaces. We hope to use the film as a tool to spark dialogues with not only Native communities but marginalized communities across cultures and generations.

Every donation is tax-deductible and will go a long way toward completing this project. 

This film is a deep collaboration and labor of love between many filmmakers and artists that I am immensely lucky to call my friends and community. 

ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby (he/him) is a citizen of the Kchi Wiikwedong Anishinaabek (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.) He was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan and received a Bachelor’s Degree in filmmaking at Grand Valley State University in December of 2015.

In 2016, Shane became the first Sundance Institute & Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellow for his script Mino Bimaadiziwin which included participating in the Sundance Institute's Native Filmmakers Lab in Santa Fe, NM. He completed his short film Mino Bimaadiziwin in October of 2017. Mino Bimaadiziwin has screened at film festivals such as Vancouver International Film Festival and Traverse City Film Festival and has been nominated for Best Short Film and Best Direction at the Eclipse Awards.  

Shane is currently in his thesis year of the MFA program in Writing/Directing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Shaandiin Tome (she/her) is a Diné filmmaker based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Her breakout, award-winning short film Mud (Hashtł’ishnii) premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2018, with foreign debut showings worldwide elevating her as a writer/director.  Shaandiin returned to Sundance in January 2022, co-directing ‘Long Line of Ladies,’ a short documentary where it was premiered.  The short film was bestowed with the ‘Documentary Shorts Jury Award’ at SXSW. Her narrative projects have been selected for the Sundance Creative Producer’s Fellowship 2019, Sundance Talent Forum 2020, and Sundance/OneFifty/WarnerMedia’s Indigenous Intensive Fellowship 2020.  She was selected as a finalist for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative with Spike Lee. She has taught film editing and post production to foreign students traveling abroad.

Frisly Soberanis (he/they)  is a director and producer, from Queens, New York via Guatemala. A member of the Undocumented Filmmaker’s Collective, his work explores separation, distance and the migrant experience. He has received support from E4FC’s Fuse fund, Tribeca Film Institute’s New Media Prototype Fund, Culturestrike and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. He is one of the Open Society’s Photo Documentary Fellows. The last project he worked on, the Family Reunions Project, was a 360 video/ virtual reality project which was shown at Hemispheric Institute’s Encuentro @ el Centro de Cultura Digital (CCDMX) in Mexico City, and during the Open Society Foundations Moving Walls 25 Exhibit. He grew up filming quinceañeras and bodas, and hopes to create stories of healing and reconnection.

Fran Zayas (he/him) is a Puerto Rican independent filmmaker based in New York City. Zayas is currently in his Thesis Year as a Graduate Film MFA Candidate at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He’s been awarded the BAFTA BBC Diversity Scholar, Spike Lee Production Film Fund, and Cary Fukunaga Production Fund. His credits include Writer, Director and Producer. Zayas’ stories revolve around self-purpose, morality, death, and grief. Consequently, Zayas long term goal is to encourage a young generation of filmmakers to embrace their culture through filmmaking.

Génesis Mancheren Abaj (they/them) is a non-binary, Queer, Kaqchikel filmmaker, actor and artist born and raised in New York City by way of Guatemala. Upon graduating from Columbia University’s School of Journalism in 2017, they have worked extensively within film — co-directing, editing, writing, producing, and more. Their written, produced and edited work has shown at Tribeca Film Festival, VR Arles Festival, Ícaro Film Festival, Rooftop Films, as well as Open Society Foundation, Leslie Lohman Museum, Centro Corona and more. Their first feature, Dólar is supported by Cine Qua Non Lab. They are co-founder of Tierra Narrative, an independent production house that focuses on Central American art and cinema through programming and production

Jess X. Snow (they/them/他) is a non-binary Asian-diasporic filmmaker, multi-disciplinary artist, poet. Their films have screened at 50+ festivals globally: including BFI Flare, Durban International Film Festival (Special Mention) and Cinequest Festival (Best Student Short) and have been supported by the National Film Board of Canada, the Sundance Institute, the Sloan Foundation for Science in Film and the Tribeca Film Institute. As a producer, they have worked on award-winning shorts that have screened at festivals nationally and distributed by Topic. They have served as a cinematographer on numerous narrative shorts and documentary features about marginalized communities speaking truth to power. They recently received their MFA in writing/directing at New York University where they were a BAFTA Scholar. 

Savannah Romero (she/her) is an Eastern Shoshone storyteller, writer, poet and educator. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her work explores the confluences of colonialism, capitalism, land-body relations, and memory. She is working on a debut collection of fiction stories and is a earning her Masters in Fine Arts for Creative Writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She has been a part of producing numerous events, video, short films, art instilitations, mural projects,  and campaigns through her current role as a Narrative Change Strategist and her previous role as the Movement Building Manager at IllumiNative.