VIFF Screening: Ever the Land

IIt’s a scenario familiar to Canadians: oppressed indigenous people fighting to rebuild and assert thIt’s a scenario familiar to Canadians: oppressed indigenous people fighting to rebuild and assert their rights. On this occasion, the setting is New Zealand’s beguiling Te Urewera forest region. The players? A fiercely independent Tuhoe tribe negotiating a settlement and an apology from the Crown while constructing an architectural gem of a community centre through sustainable methods. This confluence of honoured tradition and progressive environmentalism begets a stirring depiction of Indigenous pride, and both architectural and diplomatic ingenuity.

Ever the Land has been made with finesse, sensitivity and clear eyes. Breathtaking mountain vistas, beautiful tribal ceremonies and the modern struggle of politics: all this and more are explored, making for an education as well as a feast for the eyes. It’s heartening to see the determination of the Tuhoe people and, as is the case in so many of the best documentaries, we get to inhabit a special world. Emerging from this movie, we’re a little better for having known a new place, met a new people and seen one of those all-too-rare victories for justice. There’s a lot of folk wisdom to be gleaned, including the advice to “look back to the past and close it; look forward to the future and open it.” This is a film about past and future, tradition and modernity. Most of all, though, it’s about the grandest hopes—and what it takes to fulfill them.

The film will enjoy its international premiere as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival this Thursday October 1st (6.15pm) with a second screening scheduled for Saturday 3rd October (11am), detailed information can be found here:

http://www.viff.org/festival/films/f17880-ever-the-land

trailer

www.evertheland.com/trailereir rights.