Join us for the New York City premiere of Oscar-qualified film, YINTAH

YINTAH, meaning “land,”  is a feature-length documentary on the Wet’suwet’en nation’s fight for sovereignty.

Following the film, please stay for a Q&A with film protagonist and Wet'suwet'en land defender Howilhkat Freda Huson, as well as co-director Michael Toledano. Afterward, join us for a reception.

RSVP for Free admission.

Doors open at 6:30 PM, film begins promptly at 7 PM.

Spanning more than a decade, YINTAH follows Howilhkat Freda Huson and Sleydo’ Molly Wickham as their nation reoccupies and protects their ancestral lands from several of the largest fossil fuel companies on earth.

YINTAH is about an anti-colonial resurgence—a fierce and ongoing fight for Indigenous and human rights. The film reveals the hypocrisy of the Canadian government’s espousal of reconciliation while it seizes Indigenous land at gunpoint for resource extraction.

Wet’suwet’en land is unceded: There is no treaty, no bill of sale, or no surrender placing the land under Canadian authority. The Dinï ze’ and Tsakë ze’ (Hereditary Chiefs') jurisdiction over the territory is supported by a landmark 1997 Supreme Court of Canada decision. When a lower court effectively sidesteps this decision, granting pipeline companies access to Wet’suwet’en land, Wet’suwet’en leaders put their bodies on the line, building barricades to keep the companies out.

YINTAH is the story of the Indigenous right to stewardship and sovereignty over their territories. Freda, Molly, the Dinï ze’ and Tsakë ze, and the land defenders are part of a centuries-long fight to protect their children, culture, and land from colonial violence. For the Wet’suwet’en, their very future is at stake.

To learn more about the film, click here.
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The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Freda Huson, one of the film's protagonists, and co-director Michael Toledano.

Tsakë ze’ Howilhkat Freda Huson is a wing chief of the Unist’ot’en people of the Wet’suwet’en C’ilhts’ëkhyu clan. In 2011, she reoccupied her family’s ancestral territory in defiance of enormous fossil fuel development, and in doing so became a recognized leader in the international fight for Indigenous sovereignty. Leaving behind a comfortable life to live directly in the path of a proposed pipeline corridor through Wet’suwet’en Yintah, Howilhkat led the way for other Wet’suwet’en families to reclaim their lands. With the help of many supporters, she built a healing center for Wet'suwet'en people to heal from the violence of colonialism. She is internationally recognized for this work and has spoken as an advocate for her people at the United Nations.

Michael Toledano is an award-winning filmmaker and photojournalist based in British Columbia Canada. Michael’s work has been published by outlets including VICE, Al Jazeera America, and Democracy Now!, and has been shown across every major Canadian television news network. They are known for vibrant, ground-level documentation of social movements ranging from Black Lives Matter to the Wet’suwet’en resistance to pipelines.
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NYC-based, youth-led climate justice group Planet Over Profit organizes direct action targeting financial institutions, billionaires, and politicians who profit off of destructive, colonial fossil fuel projects. The Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, primarily owned by private equity firm KKR (headquartered in NYC), violently threatens Wet'suwet'en sovereignty and ways of life. POP and partner groups take direct action targeting KKR and its enablers.
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The New School is pleased to screen YINTAH as a part of the Decolonizing Events Series, presented by the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs.
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Runtime: 110 minutes.