Protest & Protection
A showcase of inspiring and urgent stories of vulnerability and great strength alike, this collection introduces you to some of the world’s most essential, unsung heroes.
About the program.
Available to watch online 15 Oct - 14 Nov ‘21
$12 / $9 conc (passes available)
7 Shorts | 115'
EFFA’s Protest and Protection shorts collection hones in on a selection of the First Nations leaders fighting head-on the threats of colonialism and greed which terrorise their land.
Offering a series of intimate portraits of the indelible indigenous heroes resisting the myriad developments jeopardising their way of life (from housing projects, to logging, and oil pipeline construction), together these shorts offer an educational, honest, stark and poignant glimpse into the continued struggles of these communities and a thoughtful exploration of the intersection of conservation and tradition that binds these cultures to their under siege land.
A showcase of inspiring and urgent stories of vulnerability and great strength alike, this collection introduces you to some of the world’s most essential, unsung heroes.
The Films.
Aasivissuit
A macro to micro world of Greenland through the lens of First Nations Rangers and protectors, where beneath their feet in the dark ice waters microbes digest toxic plastic pollution. Find out more on the EFFA Festival Hub.
Connection
A lifelong angler, Autumn Harry had never fished beyond the waters of her reservation — until she picked up a fly rod. On a trip to Washington to cast for steelhead, she unpacks what it means to overcome her own image of who is a fly fisher and uses the sport to fight for conservation. Find out more on the EFFA Festival Hub.
Invasion
In this era of "reconciliation”, Indigenous land is still being taken at gunpoint. Invasion takes us to the Unist’ot’en Camp and Gidimt’en checkpoint and highlights how the larger Wet'suwet'en Nation is standing up to the Canadian government and corporations who continue colonial violence against Indigenous people. Find out more on the EFFA Festival Hub.
Juskatla
On a Haida Gwaii island off the coast of Canada’s British Columbia, chainsaw crews tear into ancient forests contrasting with a lone indigenous matriarch singing prayers of thanks to the trees for the sustenance they provide. Find out more on the EFFA Festival Hub.
Mana Wahine
Aotearoa has found another inspiring woman leader with Pania Newton, who together with her whanau has fought to protect Ihumātao from residential development; both woman and land are now legendary in global indigenous land struggles. Find out more on the EFFA Festival Hub.
Warbundar Bununu: Water Shield
Scott McDinny, a young Garrwa song man, is devastated when Borroloola town camps are bombarded with water contamination notices. Determined to shield his Gulf Country homelands from mining using ancient song and dance, Scott sets out to find answers knowing that his Elders will never leave their ancestral homelands. Find out more on the EFFA Festival Hub.
We Are Abel
For the Gwich’in, the Arctic Refuge is a culturally and spiritually important land that provides a key source of sustenance through the Porcupine caribou herd. Every year, the herd has migrated from the inner lands of Alaska and Canada to the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge to calve its young. Here the young caribou are less vulnerable to predators, but Trump's plan would put roads, air pads and oil infrastructure right in the middle of this safe haven. Find out more on the EFFA Festival Hub.