Inuit without snow. Windmills over reindeer. Coastal erosion. Overconsumption. Salmon fishing bans.
Witness: Arctic Indigenous Voices tells five powerful stories from the frontlines of climate change, where Arctic Indigenous communities fight for survival and the future they want to see. From Inuit sisters passing on ancestral wisdom to prepare their daughters for a future without the land they once knew, to green energy projects threatening Sámi traditions, the film reveals the painful trade-offs of so-called progress. It captures the resilience of Tuktoyaktuk’s youth as coastal erosion forces them to relocate, echoing the scars of colonisation. A Greenlandic perspective exposes the connection between overconsumption and environmental destruction, while Alaska Native communities unite to protect their vital salmon fisheries. Witness: Arctic Indigenous Voices lays bare the relentless struggle of Indigenous peoples against a world in flux and their unwavering determination to preserve their way of life.
Participants of the Witness training program 2024
Witness Program
This film was produced through the Witness program by AIFF and Telefilm Canada, with support from UArctic, Curating Indigenous Circumpolar Cultural Sovereignty, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and York University. The program aims to amplify Indigenous voices across Arctic communities by supporting the creation of powerful short films that explore the impacts of climate change and celebrate the resilience and stories of Indigenous peoples. The 2024 iteration of Witness features esteemed Canadian Indigenous filmmakers Darlene Naponse and Jason Ryle as mentors, with Vietnamese-Canadian producer Amee Le serving as program coordinator.
Read more about this filmmaker cohort's training and mentorship program here.
The program is part of the activities of the Thematic Network on Arctic Indigenous Film.