Congratulations Wet’suwet’en leaders Freda Huson and Molly Wickham! Netflix Buys and Oscar-Qualifies ‘Yintah’ (the land) documentary which “offers the definitive account of a historic wave of Indigenous resistance to Canadian colonialism,” will open in select theatres in U.S. and U.K. and stream on Netflix starting Oct. 18. And available online for free on CBC Gem starting Sept 17 and on The Passionate Eye Sept 18.

@Gidimten:

The 88 minute version of YINTAH will be available to watch online for free on @cbcgem
starting on Sept 17 and broadcast on The Passionate Eye @cbcdocs
on Sept 18!

@UnistotenCamp:

It’s official! You can watch a newly edited version of Yintah on Netflix, and Netflix has put it forward for an Oscar!

See the director’s cut in a theatre near you.

Many thanks to all our supporters and to those who believe in us. #Yintah

Netflix Buys and Oscar-Qualifies ‘Yintah’ Doc About Indigenous Nation’s Fight for Sovereignty (EXCLUSIVE) by Madi Morfoot, Sept 12, 2024, Variety

Netflix has acquired feature documentary “Yintah” for U.S., U.K. and Canadian distribution. The acquisition comes just ahead of the film’s Camden Intl. Film Festival premiere on Sept. 14.

More than a decade in the making, “Yintah” tells the story of a Canadian-based Indigenous nation’s fight for sovereignty as it resists the construction of multiple oil and fracked-gas pipelines across its territory. Co-directed by Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano, and Jennifer Wickham, the docu captures the Wet’suwet’en nation’s right to stewardship and sovereignty over their territories.

The film follows Howilhkat Freda Huson and Sleydo’ Molly Wickham as they resist the construction of pipelines across their territory.

Netflix will qualify the 111-minute doc, which debuted in February at the True/False Film Festival, for Academy Award consideration.

“Mirroring the scope and ambition of the Wet’suwet’en fight to protect unsurrendered lands from theft, “Yintah” offers the definitive account of a historic wave of Indigenous resistance to Canadian colonialism,” said the directors in a joint statement. “Drawing from more than a decade of verité footage, the film shadows two Wet’suwet’en leaders (Freda Huson and Molly Wickham) as they reoccupy and protect their homelands in the face of state violence.”

Toledano adds, “As filmmakers, we found that Canada protects its image through force. Throughout the years our camera operators were held at gunpoint, repeatedly arrested and detained, subject to illegal police exclusion zones, surveillance, harassment, and even incarceration. Despite this repression, “Yintah” is a film where every consequential moment was captured, providing a remarkably cohesive account of a story that police worked hard to suppress.”

In May, “Yintah” screened at the 31st edition of Canada’s Hot Docs film festival where it won the Rogers Audience Award for best Canadian documentary. The award came with a cash prize of CAD $50,000 ($36,543).

“As colonial forces conspired to criminalize Wet’suwet’en jurisdiction, we as filmmakers worked to uphold it,” says Wickham. “The result is a film which was compiled under the traditional laws and collective authority of the Wet’suwet’en house groups at the center of this story – developed with intensive participation from Wet’suwet’en leaders and co-directed by the immediate family members of the film’s protagonists. Adopting a decision-making structure which mirrors the practices of Wet’suwet’en self-governance, the film relied on collaboration and consensus-building to share this vital history from an authentically Wet’suwet’en perspective.”

Points North co-founder and program director Sean Flynn says that he wanted to bring the docu to CIFF because he and the fest’s programming team were “deeply moved by the ways “Yintah” captures the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s resistance to a centuries-old pattern of colonial violence. The (filmmaker’s) unique collaborative process connects this struggle for territorial sovereignty with the growing movement for narrative sovereignty in Indigenous communities.”

“Yintah” will open in select theaters in the U.S. and U.K. and will stream on Netflix starting Oct. 18.

“The world needs to know the truth of what took place on Wet’suwet’en territory – how a determined community stood at gunpoint to protect Wet’suwet’en lands from theft,” says Michell. “We’re thrilled that Netflix has decided to champion this story.”

Celeste George@cie1947:

Lawyer argues pipeline opponents’ charter rights breached during arrests

Abuse of process hearing for Wet’suwet’en leader, blockade members to resume in November
On Wednesday, defence lawyer Frances Mahon asked RCMP Supt. Ken Floyd about a PowerPoint given before the enforcement operation on how police should conduct the raids. Floyd was the bronze police of jurisdiction commander, and was present at the arrest of Sleydo’ and Sampson.

Mahon read from the PowerPoint that police were directed to comply with the law and respect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — such as section 15 of the charter, the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination.

Mahon played an audio recording from microphones belonging to a journalist that were left on during the arrests in which police officers can be heard referring to blockade members with face paint on as “orcs.”

Mahon said this was an example of a clear violation of the accused rights being breached during arrest.

Refer also to:

2024: Congratulations Yintah (the land)! Received five-minute standing ovation at Hot Docs. Over A Decade of Wet’suwet’en Resistance trying to protect their unceded territory against invasion by Coastal GasLink, brutal military RCMP/police overkill and injunctions against them by racist raping white man courts, wins Best Canadian Documentary for 2024


2020: OH RACIST CANADA: RCMP in Wet’suwet’en Nation call their rifles “Reconciliation Sticks.” BC tells victims of violent corporate heavily armed sniper invasion and arrests to sit and chat with their abusers! That’s more abuse! Karla Tait, Unist’ot’en Member: “Had the province intervened to confirm the reports’ [COASTAL GASLINK’S] shortcomings, they could have prevented the [RCMP’s] injunction enforcement, sparing us the violent removal from our lands and sparing the country the subsequent economic pressures of solidarity actions.”

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