spotlight FILMMAKER
Bretten Hannam

Each year, TOPS highlights emerging artists whose work inspires our programme selections, and bretten hannam (they/them) is TOPS’ 2026 Spotlight Filmmaker. 

A writer-director-producer living in Kespukwitk, L’nuekati (Nova Scotia) where they were raised, hannam is a Etuijijaqmijuinu (Two Spirit) L’nu (Mi'kmaw) filmmaker whose films deal with themes of community, culture, and language. 2S and LGBTQ+ identity are the forefront of their storytelling, and they make creative use of thriller, horror, and sci-fi genre conventions in their dramatic films.

On the heels of an accomplished festival and theatrical run with their third feature film, SkƗte'kmujue'katik (At the Place of Ghosts, 2025), hannam brings their previous feature Wildhood (2021) to the TOPS screen this July. Lauded with multiple award nominations and wins in its year of release, Wildhood is a two-spirit coming-of-age road movie about two brothers on a quest for greater understanding of their family history, and themselves. 

On their selection as the Spotlight Filmmaker of TOPS’ 2026 Going Places-themed programme, bretten hannam says, “I am happy for the opportunity to be this year's Spotlight Filmmaker, and to have the chance to continue sharing Wildhood with the world. The film is very much about journeys -- filled with twists, turns, and discoveries -- including a physical adventure down roads and through forests, as well as a quieter, internal journey that unfolds within the characters, making it a natural fit within this year's TOPS theme.”

Past TOPS Spotlight Filmmakers are Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, Zack Russell, Danis Goulet, and Trevor Anderson.