SIFF DocFest: Yintah
Canada | 2024 | 110 min. | Jennifer Wickham (Gidimt’en-Witsuwit’en), Brenda Michell (Unist’ot’en-Witsuwit’en), Michael Toledano
October 4, 2024
Filmed over the course of a decade, Yintah provides a riveting account of an Indigenous nation’s fight for sovereignty as they take on gas companies, the Canadian government, and armed police to fight the construction of a major pipeline.
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Passes: $100 | $75 Members - Provides access to all DocFest screenings
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Friday, October 4, 2024
“A commanding and seductive portrait of resistance.”—Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail
“An incendiary feat of filmmaking with its portrait of Witsuwit’en land defenders protecting their territory from invasive development.”—Pat Mullen, POV Magazine
The Wet’suwet’en have never ceded their territory, governing the Yintah (“land” in the Wet’suwet’en language) for centuries. Despite this, fossil fuel companies continuously trespass onto their lands, intending to construct natural-gas pipelines across several bodies of water, creating significant environmental risk to the surrounding Indigenous communities and their way of life. The Wet’suwet’en’s claim over the territory has long been supported by a 1997 Canadian Supreme Court decision, but a lower court effectively sidesteps this decision, granting the pipeline companies access to their land. Undeterred, the Wet’suwet’en decide to put their bodies on the line, barricading their territory to resist the construction of multiple oil and gas pipelines across their territory. Unspooling like a real-life thriller, this incisive and compassionate film stands as a testament to Indigenous resistance and a clear-eyed chronicle of the blurred lines between colonization, capitalism, and the escalating climate crisis.
- Director: Jennifer Wickham (Gidimt’en-Witsuwit’en), Brenda Michell (Unist’ot’en-Witsuwit’en), Michael Toledano
- Country: Canada
- Year: 2024
- Running Time: 110 min.
- Producer: Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano, Bob Moore
- Cinematographers: Michael Toledano
- Editors: Ryan Mullins
- Music: Olivier Alary
- Website: Official Film Website
- Awards: Hot Docs 2024 (Audience Award), DOXA 2024 (Special Jury Mention)
- Filmography: Debut Feature Film
- Language: English, Witsuwit’en
- Format: DCP
- International Sales: EyeSteelFilm