Netflix secures ‘Yintah’ for U.S., U.K., and Canadian audiences
A decade-long journey to the screen
Netflix has acquired the feature documentary Yintah for distribution in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. This acquisition comes just in time for the film’s premiere at the Camden International Film Festival on September 14.
Yintah is a powerful documentary that has been more than a decade in the making. It tells the compelling story of the Wet’suwet’en nation, an Indigenous group in Canada, and their fight for sovereignty against the construction of multiple oil and fracked-gas pipelines across their territory. The film is co-directed by Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano, and Jennifer Wickham, and it captures the essence of the Wet’suwet’en nation’s right to stewardship and sovereignty over their lands.
The heart of the resistance
The documentary follows two key figures, Howilhkat Freda Huson and Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, as they lead the resistance against the pipeline construction. Their journey is a testament to the resilience and determination of the Wet’suwet’en people.
Netflix plans to qualify the 111-minute documentary, which debuted in February at the True/False Film Festival, for Academy Award consideration. This move underscores the film’s significance and the impact it has had on audiences.
A historic wave of Indigenous resistance
The directors of Yintah describe the film as mirroring the scope and ambition of the Wet’suwet’en fight to protect their unsurrendered lands from theft. The documentary offers a definitive account of a historic wave of Indigenous resistance to Canadian colonialism. Drawing from over a decade of verité footage, the film shadows Freda Huson and Molly Wickham as they reoccupy and protect their homelands in the face of state violence.
Michael Toledano, one of the co-directors, adds that as filmmakers, they discovered that Canada protects its image through force. Throughout the years, their camera operators were held at gunpoint, repeatedly arrested and detained, subjected to illegal police exclusion zones, surveillance, harassment, and even incarceration. Despite this repression, Yintah captures every consequential moment, providing a remarkably cohesive account of a story that authorities worked hard to suppress.
Recognition and accolades
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. This award came with a cash prize of CAD $50,000 ($36,543), further highlighting the film’s impact and importance.
Jennifer Wickham, another co-director, emphasizes that as colonial forces conspired to criminalize Wet’suwet’en jurisdiction, the filmmakers worked to uphold it. The result is a film 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, the documentary relied on collaboration and consensus-building to share this vital history from an authentically Wet’suwet’en perspective.
A unique collaborative process
Sean Flynn, co-founder and program director of Points North, explains that he wanted to bring Yintah to the Camden International Film Festival because he and the festival’s programming team were deeply moved by the ways the documentary captures the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s resistance to a centuries-old pattern of colonial violence. The filmmakers’ 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 October 18.
Brenda Michell, one of the co-directors, expresses her excitement about Netflix championing this story. She believes that 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 their lands from theft.
For more information and to watch the trailer, visit Yintah.
This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the documentary Yintah and its significance. By highlighting the key figures, the challenges faced by the filmmakers, and the recognition the film has received, it offers readers a deeper understanding of the Wet’suwet’en nation’s fight for sovereignty.