DƏNE YI'INJETL: The Scattering of Man

This double feature includes the films DƏNE YI’INJETL: The Scattering of Man and Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace.
After Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace, there will be a joint panel discussion/Q&A where themes common to both films will be discussed.
Your ticket for this double feature includes admission to each film, a keynote address for each film, and the joint panel discussion/Q&A.

12:30 pm: DƏNE YI’INJETL: The Scattering of Man (75 min.)
Keynote Speaker: Luke Gleeson, Director, DƏNE YI’INJETL: The Scattering of Man
When BC Hydro built the W.A.C. Bennett Dam in 1968, it flooded the Rocky Mountain Trench, a region belonging to the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation since time immemorial. With steady, experimental rhythm, emerging Dene filmmaker Luke Gleeson tells the story of how his people’s lands were flooded, pairing archival news clips and interview footage with sweeping shots of a land(scape) now completely transformed. The events that followed the dam’s construction are recounted in visual prose and through the traditions of Dene storytelling. D&’9;NE YI’INJETL: The Scattering of Man serves as a wider critique of provincial Crown corporations and the marriage of industrial and government mega projects that have violently disrupted the lives and lands of Indigenous people—all without rightful consultation or any real regard for the lands themselves.

2:15 pm: Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace (85 min.)
Keynote Speaker: Heather Hatch, Director, Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace
The many environmental, social, legal, and human perils of BC’s controversial Site C hydro dam project are explored in Heather Hatch’s must-watch doc. Pipelines tend to get all the ink in terms of environmental risks, but there are many other potential disasters in the offing. Take, for example, the Site C Dam, a gargantuan hydro-electric project on northern British Columbia’s Peace River. The 13th longest river system on the planet, the Peace River cuts across the province in an area largely populated by Indigenous peoples—including West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations, two of the smallest bands covered under Treaty 8, the government’s century-old agreement with Indigenous people intended to last ’as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the rivers flow.’ Those words haunt Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace by Haida filmmaker Heather Hatch, who spent five years documenting the protests and legal challenges to Site C—a project with negligible public benefit that, in addition to being an imprudent business decision (it’s already a money loser for the province), will disenfranchise Indigenous peoples, violate their legal rights, and end in environmental catastrophe. Along the way, we meet heroic fighters like Roland Willson, Diane Abel, George Desjarlais—whose bitingly sarcastic assessments of Site C offer some of the most trenchant lines you will hear this year—and award-winning author Sarah Cox, to name a few. Hatch and her subjects expose mind-blowing ironies, shocking betrayals, and political chicanery. One of the most compelling and touching Canadian films this year, Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace is essential, righteous viewing and a timeless reminder that one should never trust a politician in a hard hat.

3:55 pm: Joint panel discussion/Q&A following Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace with Luke Gleeson, Director, DƏNE YI’INJETL: The Scattering of Man; Chief Johnny Pierre, Chief, Tsay Keh Dene Nation, Film Subject, DƏNE YI’INJETL: The Scattering of Man; Heather Hatch, Director, Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace; Diane Abel, West Moberly First Nation, Film Subject, Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace
Moderator TBD