“A community’s fight for land, truth, and autonomy.”
On British Columbia’s remote Southside, wildfire is not an abstract threat—it is a lived reality. As flames close in on a frontier community, the Cheslatta Carrier Nation and their neighbours face an impossible choice: evacuate, or stay to protect the land that defines them. With limited access and little outside support, the community responds collectively, drawing on Indigenous leadership, cooperation, and generations of knowledge to confront the fire in near isolation. In the aftermath, the burn reveals a long-erased Cheslatta village site, resurfacing a suppressed history just as their response gains wider attention as a model for resilience. But when the flames recede, new constraints emerge—raising questions about the limits of community-led action, and the fragile balance between survival, autonomy, and authority.
Directed by Josias Tschanz
Stewart Alcock
himself
Cole Bender
himself
Brad Blackwel
himself
Gary Blackwell
himself
Joanne Brown
herself
Hazel Burt
herself
John Casimet
himself
Ryan Chapman
himself
