‘Yintah’ Trailer: Indigenous Documentary Showcases a Fight to Restore Land Rights More Than 10 Years in the Making

Feature documentary “Yintah” was more than a decade in the making as documentarians captured the Wet’suwet’en nation’s right to stewardship and sovereignty over their territories.

Directed by Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, and Michael Toledano, “Yintah” debuted at the True/False Film Fest and screened at North America’s biggest documentary film festival Hot Docs as part of the Land|Sky|Sea program. The feature was made with the participation of over three dozen Wet’suwet’en community members, with the title translating to “land” in the Wet’suwet’en language.

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The documentary centers on the aftermath of the 1997 landmark Delgamuukw-Gidsaywa Supreme Court of Canada case where the court recognized that the Wet’suwet’en people have never given up title to an area of land larger than New Jersey in northern British Columbia. The case included Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs as plaintiffs. However, regardless of the court ruling, the governments of Canada and British Columbia authorized fossil fuel companies to build pipelines across Wet’suwet’en land – sparking a decade-long clash between Wet’suwet’en land defenders and Canadian police seeking to seize Wet’suwet’en land with a series of consecutive, large-scale militarized raids.

Spanning more than a decade, the film follows Howilhkat Freda Huson and Sleydo’ Molly Wickham as their nation reoccupies and protects its ancestral lands from the Canadian government and several of the largest fossil fuel companies on earth, per the official synopsis.

“Yintah” was compiled under the traditional laws and collective authority of the Wet’suwet’en house groups and developed with participation from Wet’suwet’en leaders. The co-directors are the immediate family members of the film’s protagonists. Co-director Toledano was actually temporarily arrested during the making of the documentary, with Hot Docs issuing a statement of concern and support.

“For the past three years, Toledano has resided in the Wet’suwet’en territory filming the documentary Yintah, which looks at the decade-long struggle by Wet’suwet’en members to stop pipelines from crossing their lands. On Friday he was arrested while embedded in a resistance camp and taken into custody, and was released yesterday,” the statement reads. “The rights of journalists and documentarians to be present and conduct their work in situations of conflict and protest has been affirmed by the courts and is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Hot Docs stands with all documentarians and journalists and their right to cover these stories without interference, and supports Michael Tolendano’s continuing efforts to document this important story for Canadians.”

In addition to co-directors Wickham, Michell, and Toledano, Bob Moore also produces. The film is distributed by EyeSteelFilm Distribution Inc.

“Yintah” will premiere later in 2024 in the U.S. Check out the trailer below.

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