Wayne Wapeemukwa's second feature, "Manhunt," premiered in competition at the 79th Locarno Film Festival, unsettling audiences with a fictionalised take on real-life 2019 Canadian murders as it follows two young men whose road trip through the country's northern frontier spirals into dark consequences. The film's striking, disorienting visual style, crafted by Toronto-based cinematographer Jonathan Glendon in his feature debut, has drawn particular attention for mirroring the psychological state of its protagonists, including depicting hell as a garish "candy world."

Rather than presenting the murders as fact, Wapeemukwa said he wanted to explore the "nihilism at the heart of these boys' lives," describing it as being "blackpilled." The film won an award in Locarno's Junior Jury Awards and stars newcomers Harris Lowe and Landon Tunold alongside Austrian twins Bianca and Dilara Foscht; Glendon, who joined the project after being recommended by another cinematographer, cited influences including Robbie Müller and "The Wrestler." Cinetic Media and Aspect Ratio are handling North American and international sales respectively.