“Endless Cookie” is based on the real stories of Peter, a mixed (Indigenous and white) person from the Shamattawa First Nations in Manitoba, mixed with the animations of Seth; a white artist, director, and Peter’s half-brother. The core of the film is the relationships between the protagonists and the rest of the family.
The action of the animation takes place in Pete’s living room, where Seth tries to record a series of his brother’s stories. The central point is an attempt to describe a macabre encounter with a beaver trap, which is constantly disrupted by various events from the everyday life of the reserve: family, neighbors, the constant hum of media. These in turn lead to other action scenes and anecdotes, connected by associative and poetic logic. These stories—from funny, through unsettling, to tender—include tales of absurd police work, bears lounging on couches at a garbage dump, and the story of a family running a used clothing store at Kensington Market in Toronto. Most of the narration is based on recorded conversations between Peter and Seth from 2016–2024.
Shamattawa is a remote community that can only be reached by plane or, in winter, by icy roads. In national media it is described as the second poorest reserve in Manitoba. Peter is 16 years older than Seth and moved to Toronto when he was 12. They grew up there together until Peter returned to Shamattawa when he was 30.
Awards:
- Award – Best Feature Film – Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Annecy, France, 2025;
- Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 2025;
- Honorary Mention at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2025;
- Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, Canada, 2025;
- Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Toronto, Canada, 2025;
- Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Greece, 2025;
- Calgary Underground Film Festival, Canada, 2025.
Nominee:
- Independent Spirit Awards, California, USA, 2026;
- San Francisco International Film Festival, California, USA, 2025;
- Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, USA, 2025;
- Directors Guild of Canada, 2025.
Peter Scriver
Pete Scriver’s artistic practice is primarily based on storytelling, but he is also a self-taught sculptor and writer. He was born in 1961 in the Shamattawa First Nation and moved to Toronto at the age of 12. After several years of studying and working in the city, he returned to his hometown, Shamattawa First Nation, where, at the age of 30, he started a family and became known as a talented hunter and trapper. After the birth of his third child, he was appointed chief of the Shamattawa First Nation. On the day of his election, he fell through the ice on his snowmobile. When he was pulled out, he was told that he had been elected and had to take the oath immediately. The entire ceremony ended up taking place while he was frozen in his snowsuit. A few years later, Pete became a judge of the Shamattawa Supreme Court. After eight years in this position, the need to care for his children and the exhaustion caused by the racist behavior of the police (RCMP) forced him to resign. He is currently a Canadian forest ranger and maintenance worker at the care center in Shamattawa, as well as the father of nine bright and lively children.
Seth Scriver
Director, screenwriter, artist, and carpenter from Toronto. His feature-length animated film “Asphalt Watches,” created in collaboration with Shayne Ehman, won the award for Best Canadian First Feature at TIFF 2013. The film follows the travels of Seth and Shayne hitchhiking across Canada. Seth is also a talented visual artist, working in many media, including drawing, airbrushing, comics, sculpture, and animation. Seth is fascinated by exploring engaging characters and authentic stories, especially those that delve into marginalized histories of capitalist culture through the non-narrative works of Canadian comics.
Seth’s Filmography
2025 - Endless Cookie - drama, comedy, documentary, 97’
2013 - Asphalt Watches - adventure, comedy, music, 94’
