Sundance Film Festival 2025 – Inko for When the Starving Return depicts a world of ancient monsters that lurk under the ice in a vast frozen tundra. It’s a world that introduces a gender-fluid warrior named Dove, voiced by Paulina Alexis. This Indigenous narrative is a powerful work of stop motion animation. It addresses the importance of preserving traditions, honoring the land, and feeling comfortable with one’s identity.

Based on a short story by Richard Van Camp and directed by Amanda Strong, the short opens as Dove witnesses a relative sink into the ice, leaving Dove to navigate this strange and frightening world alone. The creatures do appear throughout the short and look like hulking beasts. One also takes the form of a creepy wolf. Most of the narrative, however, centers around Dove coming into their own, learning traditions, including medicine, as a way to fight back against the monsters. The creatures represent greed and other human excesses that ravage the land. To be clear, though, this is Dove’s journey, first and foremost. It’s a heck of a ride throughout the 18-minute runtime, watching Dove grow into themselves and their warrior status. Dove finds assistance through the help of various ancestors, including Auntie, voiced by Tantoo Cardinal, and an actual frog, voiced by Art Napoleon. Dove develops a growing kindship with the land and its creatures.

As for the stop motion animation and some of the puppetry, it really brings this frigid world to life. This includes the vast, snowy landscapes, the creatures, and the few characters that Dove encounters. According to the director’s statement, this film was a seven-year process. The effort certainly shows in terms of the visuals. This is one striking and engrossing world.

Inko for When the Starving Return is a non-traditional hero’s journey, rooted in Indigenous storytelling. The short is a visual feast of stop motion animation that dazzles from frame to frame. The labor of love and immense time that went into bringing Van Camp’s futuristic story to life paid off.

Thankfully, we’ll see more of this world soon. During Sundance, it was announced that the Vancouver-based Spotted Fawn Productions has greenlit the development of a six-parted animated series expanding upon the short. Stay tuned.