After co-directing Aberdeen with Ryan Cooper, Eva Thomas had the chance to lead a set on her own terms. Her solo directorial debut, Nika & Madison, is an extension of her 2023 short film Redlights and features some of her most frequent collaborators. 

This tender coming-of-age story has Star Slade and Ellyn Jade playing the titular characters, who are two estranged cousins living in opposite realities. Madison is a city girl, whereas Nika finds refuge in the peace and quiet of nature. When Madison returns to the reserve for a weekend outing and engages in a bar fight, she is arrested by a police officer with questionable intentions. 

This incident brings Nika back into Madison’s sphere, doing what she can to protect her cousin even if she puts her own safety at risk. The film sees the two rebuilding their trust while running away from the authorities. Inspired by Thelma & Louise, Nika & Madison made its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival to a standing ovation. After its festival run, Thomas’ latest directorial effort will make its theatrical release this Friday, March 20. 

During TIFF, the director and one of the film’s leads chatted with SheDoesTheCity about the small community they built on set in a project that is rooted in trust. According to Thomas and Slade, working with longtime friends made the production process freeing, and allowed for the connections off camera to transpire on screen. 

With Nika & Madison, the duo wanted to show how broken relationships can be restored and the importance of sisterhood while recovering from traumatic experiences. Although Nika seems tough on the outside, she eventually lays her guard down with Madison, resulting in an emotional moment that audiences are sure to resonate with.

Nika & Madison first premiered at TIFF. How was it sharing the film with a festival audience?

Star Slade: Oh, it was amazing. I had never seen the film prior to the premiere, and it was incredible to get to watch it with the whole team and with a live audience, who in real time were giving us feedback. It was so funny to see the places people responded to with laughter that I hadn’t before.

Eva Thomas:  I agree! It was thrilling to hear that they laughed when I hoped they would, and laughed at things that I didn’t think were particularly funny, but they found humour in it. That they cried when I hoped that they would cry. They were impacted. But for me, what hit it out of the park was our standing ovation. It’s nice to get that kind of feedback from the audience.

Eva, you’ve co-directed a feature film before, but this is your first time flying solo. How did this challenge you as a filmmaker?

Thomas: There was a certain safety in co-directing. You’re in it together and you can discuss things. On set, while I’m looking at the frame or the way the camera is moving, they’re looking at maybe the performance. After each take, you go over and say, “what did you think? What if they did it like this?” When I did it by myself, all those things were happening in my head. It was nice to have the opportunity to co-direct, and that taught me the role with some support. When I did it solo, I was able to fly alone. I think the confidence that I gained through co-directing was shown through when I was able to do it by myself.

Star, you and Ellyn have been friends for a long time. How did your real-life friendship help bring Nika and Madison’s onscreen chemistry to life?

Slade: I think our friendship of nearly a decade just made it so easy and natural to bring these two girls together on screen. I think we were really spoiled in that way. It truly was not too difficult, because we have a genuine, deep, unconditional love for each other. We’ve worked together a few times before so that was awesome.

There are a few people in this film who have worked together before. Can you share about the community that you guys have with all these Indigenous actors who are collaborating repeatedly?

Thomas: Ellyn was in my short film, Redlights, and I enjoyed working with her so much. Of course, I said let’s do the short together, and then we’ll do the feature together. I actually hired Star in a film that I produced and she was great in that. Then when we were casting for Madison, she auditioned. I had her in mind before the auditions, so I’m glad that she met my expectations. Jennifer Podemski, Billy Merasty, and Gail Maurice were all in Aberdeen, the feature that I co-directed, which was at TIFF in 2024.

When you create with people who you like working with, it helps because you’re together 12-15 hours a day. When you have that trust, it makes the process better. They know that they can recommend things to me or ask me questions, and they know that because I used to be an actor, I take actors seriously. As a director, I’m thinking about a lot of things, but Star is only thinking about Madison and Ellyn is only thinking about Nika. I’d consider myself an actor’s director, and my favourite part of directing is working with the actors.

Slade: Collaborating with Eva is so lovely. As she said, she’s such a collaborative spirit. She likes to say that it’s not her movie, it’s our movie. It was a freeing experience to have that trust from a director. Because she comes from an acting background, she knows how to trust actors and their instincts. 

In the film, there are two cops who have contrasting ways of handling this investigation. One views the situation with empathy, while the other is quick to make assumptions about Nika’s actions. What was it like working with Shawn Doyle and Amanda Brugel to ensure that their characters’ interactions were nuanced?

Thomas: What was wonderful about Amanda and Shawn is that this was the third time that they had worked together, so they had trust in each other. The previous relationship that Star had with Ellyn, you almost feel that bleeding right through the screen. The previous relationship and the trust that Shawn had with Amanda allowed them to kind of go toe to toe in a way that might have been more awkward if they had just met. It was a trust that was already there. Trust is an ongoing theme in the movie, but it is just as important when doing the work.

At the start, Nika is much more reserved and you know that there’s more to her than she lets on, even though you only find out about it in the end. Can you talk about creating that coming-of-age trajectory for her?

Thomas: I’ll start by saying that, yeah, you do kind of feel that there’s something deep and profound going on under the surface. Just like in real life, you don’t tell somebody your deepest secrets as soon as you meet them or even your family members until you know that you can trust them. For the first portion of the movie until we get to the reveal, Nika and Madison have to rebuild their trust. Once that trust is rebuilt, then Nika is able to share what happened to her. By the time that moment comes, my hope is that audience members care so much about the girls that the moment is heartbreaking. Many people have shared how that moment is very emotionally impactful for them, because I think all of us have had to hold space for people to share stories like that.

When that reveal happens, how do you think that shifts the relationship between the two of them? 

Slade: With that scene in particular, the girls are back together and they’re connected. It feels like they’re on the same frequency once more. That safety and that trust, they are 100% back on the same channel. That scene clears the barrier between the two girls that’s been building for years because Nika was dealing with this alone. There’s so much power in speaking about what you’ve been through as a survivor of any sort of violence as women. I think that moment is a final clearing of all of that and her getting to step into her power.

Nika & Madison opens at the TIFF Lightbox on March 20, and will screen at Cineplex Yonge-Dundas from March 23 onwards.