The Current

Filmmaker Nettie Wild finds cinematic poetry in 'polarized' mining debate

Canadian filmmaker Nettie Wild is known for taking on politically charged topics. Now, she trains her camera on the beauty of Northwestern B.C. and the tense coexistence of First Nations, nature, and the Red Chris Mine in "Koneline: Our Land Beautiful."
In the documentary, Koneline: Our Land Beautiful by Canadian filmmaker Nettie Wild, the beauty and complexity of the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nation undergoes irrevocable change. (Koneline: Our Land Beautiful film)

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The Red Chris Mine is a large-scale mining project in an area known as the golden triangle, a copper and gold rich area in northern B.C.

Like most resource development projects, the mine is controversial. Especially so because it's located on Tahltan First Nation territory — that's what's pulling Oscar Dennis, a Tahltan First Nation man, the other way.

The Tahltan First Nation land is one of the most stunningly beautiful places on earth. But the mine represents an economic lifeline. It's that tension, and that beautiful natural backdrop, that's explored in a new documentary film,  Koneline: Our Land Beautifulby Canadian filmmaker Nettie Wild.
 

Wild is known for her work documenting politically fraught stories, from addiction in the downtown east side of Vancouver, to the Zapatista Movement in Mexico. But with this film, she says she wanted to create a cinematic poem — one that represents all the people who live and work on the land. Wild hopes people watching the film can experience the beauty that might otherwise be written off. 

(Koneline: Our Land Beautiful film)

Koneline: Our Land Beautiful is screening at the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto.

This segment was produced by The Current's Josh Bloch.