Hot Docs 2024: Yintah (by Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano) | Review

Never seen before. Yintah (the Wet’suwet’en word for land), is a feature documentary chronicling the Wet’suwet’en fight for sovereignty in present-day Canada, directed by Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, and Michael Toledano. After celebrating its world premiere at the True/False Film Festival 2024, the film received its Canadian premiere at Hot Docs 2024.

Spanning over a decade, Yintah follows Howilhkat Freda Huson and Sleydo’ Molly Wickham as their nation reclaims and defends their ancestral lands from the Canadian government and some of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies.

The Wet’suwet’en nation has lived on and governed their territories for thousands of years without signing treaties or selling their land to Canada. In 1997, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, alongside Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs, won a landmark decision in the Supreme Court of Canada in the Delgamuukw-Gidsaywa case, affirming their rights to 22,000 km² of land in northern British Columbia, Canada.

Despite these rulings, the Canadian and British Columbian governments persist in asserting jurisdiction over this territory and issuing permits for resource projects without the consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs. Those Wet’suwet’en who uphold decisions according to Wet’suwet’en law have faced criminalization and repeated arrests for occupying and controlling access to their ancestral territories.

In this increasingly urgent context, the Wet’suwet’en nation’s struggle against a pipeline project, threatening their land, animals, forests, and waters, gains momentum. Through an insider’s perspective, closely following indigenous resistance, especially two heroic women, Freda (Tsakë ze’ Howilhkat Freda Huson) and Molly (Tsakë ze’ Sleydo’ Molly Wickham), Yintah offers a visceral and captivating immersion. These women dedicate their lives and efforts to this crucial yet too often disregarded struggle. Their courage, integrity, resilience, and aura radiate through every pixel of the screen.

With skillful cinematography and powerful storytelling, the filmmakers have crafted an action-packed film spanning over a decade with uncommon potency. The verbal and physical confrontations between nation members and law enforcement, though sometimes violent, are extremely shocking and gripping. Including raw and brutal documentation, Yintah is an urgent, breathtaking film representing a striking act of resistance and filmmaking.

Yintah conveys a vital message about the reality of devastation caused by Canadian colonialism, which has never subdued its voracious instincts. The film notably denounces the complicit attitude of the Canadian government, embodied by a self-satisfied, condescending, and disdainful Justin Trudeau towards Indigenous communities, highlighting the scant regard for the national reconciliation cause.

Yintah is a visceral, necessary, brilliantly executed film whose mastery of perspective and narrative outweigh any minor criticisms – some parts of the film could have been trimmed down and the film could have provided a clearer sense of spatial context. Yintah is a documentary that doesn’t sacrifice aesthetics for urgent and essential discourse, nor vice versa. Yintah is a gripping and enduringly impactful experience deserving attention and recognition from all.

Produced by Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano, and Bob Moore, Yintah is distributed by Montreal-based EyeSteelFilm. At Hot Docs 2024, Yintah placed first in the overall audience poll, winning the Hot Docs Audience Award, and as the highest ranked Canadian feature in this poll, Yintah took home the Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary (with a cash prize of CAD 50,000).

The 31st edition of Hot Docs – Canadian International Documentary Festival is taking place from April 25th to May 5th, 2024 in Toronto, Canada. Explore our coverage here.