5 features to watch at this year's DOXA documentary film festival
In a world full of siloed mentalities, the need for content that expands our view is more important than ever.
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Here in Vancouver, the long-running DOXA Documentary Film Festival, on May 1-11, sets out to offer a wide range of viewpoints. This year's festival slate includes 39 feature films and 30 shorts and mid-length films representing 30-plus countries. There are 28 Canadian films in the program, 13 of which are features. Of the total films, 11 are world premieres, six are North American premieres and five are Canadian premieres.
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'We just turn on our TV, and it looks like we're in a time (where) media and larger forms of information is just coming from zones of power and money,' said Marianne Thodas, programming and industry manager for DOXA.
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'Whoever has money has the ability to kind of transfer media. Something that's nice about our documentary festival is that we're able to intersect that zone and that way of information and highlight smaller stories, highlight local stories, highlight zones that have less money, but are still political stories that deserve to be heard.
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' Documentary festivals are really important right now. It's a way for people to get information that they don't normally have access to,' added Thodas.
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'I think our times, and what has happened in the last couple of months, have showed us that resistance and resilience is something that should always guide us because nothing that we are gaining, in terms of social rights or in terms of rights for minorities, is ever secured,' said Arnaud Menindes, DOXA's managing director.
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One of the films that fits this theme is B.C. filmmaker Lyana Patrick's Nechako: It Will be a Big River Again. Making its world premiere at DOXA, Nechako follows the Sai'kuz and Stellat'en First Nations as they fight to bring back the Nechako River after its damming 70 years ago.
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Completed in 1954, the Kenney Dam created the Nechako reservoir and power for Rio Tinto's smelter in Kitimat. Seventy per cent of the Nechako River was diverted into the reservoir, severely impacting the lives of local First Nations who rely on the Nechako watershed for fishing and sustenance. For decades, First Nations in the area have been engaged in resistance and legal actions against the Canadian federal and provincial governments and Rio Tinto Alcan.
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Part of DOXA's Justice Forum programming, Nechako: It Will Be a Big River Again has two screenings. First up is May 5 at 2 p.m. at SFU's Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre. After this screening there will be a presentation with the director and First Nations members. The film will be screened again on May 3 at 5 p.m. at the VIFF Centre.
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