Village Keeper

Village Keeper is a Canadian drama film directed by Karen Chapman, and released in 2024.^[1] The film stars Oluniké Adeliyi as Jean, a Black Canadian widow living in the Lawrence Heights community of Toronto, where she tries to protect her children Tamika (Zahra Bentham) and Tristin (Micah Mensah-Jatoe) from neighbourhood violence.^[2]

Village Keeper
Film Poster
Directed by	Karen Chapman
Screenplay by	Karen Chapman
Produced by	Enrique Miguel Baniqued Karen Chapman
Starring	Oluniké Adeliyi Maxine Simpson Zahra Bentham Micah Mensah-Jatoe
Cinematography	Jordan Oram
Edited by	Christopher Minns Xi Feng Jordan Hayles
Music by	Dalton Tennant
Production company	Smallaxx Motion Pictures
Distributed by	Levelfilm
Release date	September 11, 2024 (2024-09-11) (TIFF)
Running time	83 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English

The cast also includes Maxine Simpson as Jean's mother, as well as Oyin Oladejo, d'bi.young anitafrika, Ethan Burnett, Shiloh O'Reilly, Noah Zulfikar, Ricardo Betancourt, L.A. Sweeney, Mark Sparks, Gordon Fulton, Zara McLean, Jael Obasi and Mekeylah Minott in supporting roles.

Chapman's feature directorial debut, it entered production in summer 2023, in Toronto.^[2]

The film premiered in the Discovery program at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.^[3]

Awards

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Directors Guild of Canada	2024	Best Direction in a Feature Film	Karen Chapman	Nominated	[4]
Canadian Screen Awards	2025	Best Motion Picture	Enrique Miguel Baniqued, Karen Chapman	Nominated	[5]
		Best Lead Performance in a Drama Film	Oluniké Adeliyi	Nominated
		Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Film	Zahra Bentham	Nominated
			Micah Mensah-Jatoe	Nominated
			Maxine Simpson	Nominated
		Best Original Screenplay	Karen Chapman	Nominated
		John Dunning Best First Feature		Won