In Nature Girl (2026, 27 mins) filmmaking duo Candace Campo (xets’emits’a), a shÃshálh knowledge keeper,
artist, and cultural educator, and Trent Maynard, a settler-Canadian filmmaker, poet, and geographer,
take audiences on an intimate journey into the rainforest.
Set throughout six years of 4k trail camera fieldwork in the shÃshálh Nation swiya (ancestral lands),
the friends reimagine documentary filmmaking as a meditational practice of listening
and relation-making across seasons and years.
Centering poetry, Indigenous ways of knowing and queer ecology, join us as we make relations
with the incredible plant and animal teachers thriving in a shÃshálh wetland.
Vancouver Premiere: Vancouver Queer Film Fest 2026 Official Selection
Nature Girl is screening alongside Understanding Myself as an Amphibian at VQFF 2026.
Saturday September 19 2026 1:30pm, International Village Cinemas, Vancouver, BC
–> GET TICKETS & MORE DETAILS HERE <–
About the Filmmakers
Candace Campo, ancestral name xets’emits’a (to always be there)
Candace Campo is a shÃshálh artist, cultural educator, orator, storyteller, filmmaker, and entrepreneur whose work is grounded in Coast Salish teachings, Indigenous resurgence, and the enduring relationship between people, land, and language. Working across painting, screen printing, theatre, film, and cultural interpretation, she explores themes of identity, resilience, reconciliation, and the living connections between culture and place.
As the founder of Talaysay Tours, Candace has become a leading voice in Indigenous cultural tourism, sharing shÃshálh history, oral traditions, and contemporary Indigenous perspectives with audiences across Canada and internationally. Her artistic practice blends ancestral knowledge with contemporary expression, creating work that invites dialogue, reflection, and deeper understanding.
Through visual art, storytelling, public speaking, and collaborative creative projects, Candace is committed to strengthening Indigenous identity, advancing language and cultural revitalization, and fostering meaningful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Her work reflects a lifelong dedication to education, cultural continuity, and the power of art as a catalyst for connection, healing, and change.
Follow Candace on Instagram and her tour company Talaysay Tours.
Trent Maynard
Trent Maynard is a Canadian filmmaker, media artist, writer and citizen scientist of Austrian, Celtic and English ancestry, raised and currently living as a guest in Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation and shÃshálh (Sechelt) Nation lands on the BC coast.
Trent has a MSc in Geography from the London School of Economics (2009), and previously worked in media at Channel 4 (UK), Box TV and the CBC.
As a filmmaker and media artist, they create work rooted in long-term, land-based practice. They take joy in building multispecies relationships in forest and intertidal ecosystems, developed through years of field observation, trail camera research, community engagement and collaborative filmmaking. It takes a village!
Trent’s work has been presented through festivals, galleries, community screenings, educational programs, and school curriculum.
Follow Trent on Instagram, Patreon and their website.
Copyright Trent Maynard, Candace Campo & Nature Girl Productions 2026