Montreal, Tuesday, October 15, 2024 — FAIRY CREEK, the feature directorial debut by award-winning documentary director Jen Muranetz, will have its World Premiere at Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival on October 17. FAIRY CREEK is a gripping immersion into the environmentalist-led blockade at Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek) valley on Vancouver Island that began in the summer of 2020, where thousands of activists clashed with police and loggers in what became one of Canada’s largest demonstration of civil disobedience. Cinema Politica proudly welcomes FAIRY CREEK to its distribution catalogue.
With unique insider access and employing in-the-trenches cinema vérité, FAIRY CREEK follows this blockade from its early inception to its bittersweet endings through the lens of an ensemble cast of blockade vanguards and those who oppose them. For nine uninterrupted months, the movement expands from one blockade to many, capturing the imaginations of thousands of concerned citizens, conservationists and Indigenous land defenders to join in a last-ditch effort to save some of Canada’s remaining old growth forests. But when an injunction is approved, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrives to arrest people standing in the way of logging, sparking a dramatic and historic stand-off now recognized as Canada’s largest act of civil disobedience.
FAIRY CREEK is a story of resilience and grit, a quest for purpose, exploring the juncture of personal sacrifice, Indigenous sovereignty, ecological grief, and interpersonal tension that leads to the fallout of Canada’s largest ever demonstration of civil disobedience. By documenting this significant and contentious juncture in time, the film is calling attention to a much larger conversation: what does it take to find common ground in the fight for a climate-just future?
FAIRY CREEK is directed and produced by Jane Muranetz, and co-produced and lensed by Sepehr Samimi. The film received support from Telefilm Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, the NFB Filmmaker’s Assistance Program, Kickstarter backers, and the Small Change Fund
“ Fairy Creek is a gripping documentary that places viewers in intimate proximity to the film’s characters and central tension, leaving those watching feeling stirred, conflicted, empathetic, and motivated to act with their own resiliency in the climate emergency.”
FAIRY CREEK will screen at the 25th edition of the Planet In Focus International Environmental Film Festival on October 17, 6:30PM at the Paradise Theatre, Toronto, ON. Click this link to secure your tickets!
