Anna Lambe’s ascent is something to celebrate

I’ve interviewed Anna Lambe twice this year – the first time at the Banff Media Festival where she was one of the speakers on a panel about “Main Character Energy: Canadian Actors MADE for the Global Stage” and again recently at the Toronto International Film Festival where she was there for the world premiere of director Nyla Innuksuk’s In the Heart of the South, co-starring Anna and Zorga Qaunaq – and of course you would know them both from their hit series North of North. Season two premiered earlier this month on CBC Gem and will stream later this year on Netflix.

In the Heart of the South has been described as Single White Female with an Inuk lead character, a supernatural thriller about identity, appropriation, and the relationship between the settler creative community and Indigenous artists. It explores the grey area between allyship and performative support, both within the Indigenous community and outside of it, and the film is meant to encouraged nuanced and complicated conversations that may not result in immediate conclusions. Because everyone is still trying to figure it out. But it would be impossible to get anywhere near the answer if we’re not all brutally honest about our own stories and the stories we champion.

Zorga Qaunaq and Anna Lambe in "In the Heart of the South" (Courtesy TIFF)

Anna and Zorga were candidly introspective when I talked to them about these thorny questions. Because In the Heart of the South is a film made by an Indigenous team for an Indigenous audience – and a wider audience – as a meditation on authenticity. So they’re not just challenging non-Indigenous people to think more deeply about representation, they are also challenging themselves. In the Heart of the South will next screen at the Vancouver International Film Festival this weekend – you can get tickets here.

It’s been especially exciting over these last two years to watch Anna’s rise in the industry in such an impressive variety of projects. She broke out in True Detective: Night Country and North of North; she’s working in independent film with In the Heart of the South; she has a supporting role in Heart of the Beast, in theatres now; and another in the upcoming Social Reckoning, one of the most highly anticipated films of the season. This has been intentional – the range of projects she keeps adding to her IMDb credits. As she tells ELLE Canada in the magazine’s October issue:

“As a creative, I can weave drama and comedy. I can exist in a romantic world that isn’t related to trauma. I can play angsty and do the things that other actors do. I’m up for a challenge. I don’t want to be one thing. Nobody wants to be seen as limited when you see yourself as a whole, capable human being.”

Two years ago, Lily Gladstone became the first Indigenous actress nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. After that award season, one of the questions was how long Lily would be the first and only, how long before we would have more Indigenous women in high-profile roles. There are, obviously, still not enough. But Anna Lambe’s ascent is definitely something to celebrate.