'Bad River,' about northern Wisconsin tribe, up for 3 Critics Choice documentary awards

Yahoo

07-11-2024

The documentary film 'Bad River' about the northern Wisconsin tribe's fight for sovereignty has been nominated for three Critics Choice Awards.
'I could not be more excited,' said director Mary Mazzio about the nominations. 'This film is the little engine that could.'
The film, which was shown in theaters earlier this year, was nominated for best narration, best political documentary and best historical documentary in the 9th annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards.
The ceremony will be broadcast live Sunday at 6 p.m. on the Critics Choice Association website and on social media.
The 'Bad River' film nominations come on the heels of it winning an award for best documentary film last month from the Environmental Media Association.
The film — narrated by actor Edward Norton and Indigenous model and actress Quannah Chasinghorse — focuses on the Bad River Ojibwe Tribe's fight for treaty rights and sovereignty in Wisconsin for nearly the last 200 years.
Mazzio said the film gained recognition and viewers after actors Jason Momoa and Leonardo DiCaprio posted its trailer on their social media pages.
The documentary also was heavily supported by Native moviegoers throughout the Midwest, especially where Ojibwe tribes are present, including Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.
The movie was originally going to show at a few small movie theaters in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, but producers received a phone call from AMC distributers saying they were expanding the screenings to other theaters, including in Milwaukee, because of the high viewer turnout.
Half of the profits from the screenings were donated to the Bad River Tribe.
Mazzio spent about two months just doing interviews for the film. It highlights the tribe's struggles against Canadian-based Enbridge and its Line 5 oil pipeline that cuts through the reservation. Tribal officials fear an oil spill would devastate the environment, including the fresh waterways, across the region.
Enbridge representatives said they're working to reroute the pipeline around the reservation due to the opposition, but tribal officials argue the reroute is still too close and still cuts through multiple waterways that feed freshwater aquifers and Lake Superior.
Mazzio said this is a David-vs.-Goliath story with a small tribe challenging a multibillion-dollar global corporation.
She said she was moved when former Bad River Chairman Mike Wiggins told her the tribe turned down an $80 million offer from Enbridge to settle its lawsuit against it.
'This is the freshwater stronghold of America,' Mazzio. '(What Bad River is doing) is a patriotic act. This is all about fighting a battle that all Americans will benefit from, but not know the battle is being fought.'
As she started to focus the film on the struggle against Enbridge she realized she needed to show some of the tribe's history with fighting against environmental dangers and with fighting for sovereignty in Wisconsin.
'These stories are so humbling,' Mazzio said.
Tribal elders in the film discuss the tribe's fight for treaty rights, the boarding school era with its forced assimilation, decades of racial abuse against tribal members and how they've endured and overcome.
'Bad River' is currently streaming on Peacock.
'Bad River' documentary about Wisconsin tribe's struggle for rights premieres Friday
'A new chapter of a very old story': Documentary shows Bad River Band's fight against Line 5
Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at [e-mail] or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Documentary on Wisconsin tribe up for 3 Critics Choice awards