World Premiere
Mixing animation with a wealth of archival footage, Chris Auchter’s film explores the 1985 dispute over clearcut logging on Haida Gwaii. On one side are Western Forest Products and Frank Beban Logging, who plan to engage in clearcut logging on Tllga Kun Gwaayaay (Lyell Island) and are supported by the BC government. On the other side is the Haida Nation, which wishes to protect its lands against further destruction. The confrontation involves court proceedings and a blockade, and Auchter takes us from canny retrospective commentary to the thick of the action.
Crucial to The Stand’s political aims is its depiction of simple human grace. The pride and passion of the Haida Nation representatives are foregrounded; especially stirring are spokesperson Miles Richardson, Jr. and the elders who are willing to be arrested for their actions. There is no harsh rhetoric (save for the bloviation of TV commentator Jack Webster, who strenuously supports the loggers); instead, the controversy is marked by a respect that does not at all undermine moral conviction.
Oct 3: Q&A with director Christopher Auchter and producer Shirley Vercruysse
Oct 5: Q&A with director Christopher Auchter
Presented by
Media Partner
Delores Churchill
Canada
2024
In English and Haida with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Shirley Vercruysse
Producer
Shirley Vercruysse
Screenwriter
Christopher Auchter
ANIM
Christopher Auchter
Editor
Sarah Hedar
Original Music
Genevieve Vincent
Christopher Auchter
Christopher Auchter grew up roaming the beaches and forests of the Haida Gwaii. His art is rooted in the land and stories of the Haida people and his practice is fuelled by his close connection to the natural environment, his adventures, and experiences. Auchter studied media arts at Emily Carr University and computer animation at Sheridan College. His work includes contributions to Daniel Janke’s How People Got Fire (2008) and projects with Electronic Arts and Nintendo. He has also illustrated children’s books and graphic novels.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
One of only a handful of live action children's films to capture the imaginations of generations, E.T. has a luminous warmth; it's a suburban symphony of emotion, and it's fascinating to revisit it in the light of The Fabelmans.
Turner & Constable
Filmed as a supplement to a blockbuster exhibition at Tate Britain happening right now, this doc in the popular Exhibition on Screen series allows us to view these competitive, complementary English landscape artists side by side.
The President's Cake
Nine year old Lamia and her friend Saeed venture into the city to scrounge ingredients for a cake to celebrate Sadaam Hussein's birthday — a quest fraught with real peril in precarious times. Winner, Camera d'Or, Cannes.
Montreal, ma belle
In this Valentine to discovering love later in life, the ever-elegant Joan Chen plays Feng Xia, a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant and mother in Montreal whose world is turned upside down when she meets and falls in love with a young Quebecoise.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly + Talkback with Special Guests
The third and the best of the so-called 'Dollars' trilogy amplifies Leone's baroque style: crane shots, shock cuts and Morricone music all vying for attention as three rogues hunt buried gold in a series of triangular variations. + Intro and Talkback