Environmental Selection

Rise: Two Films (2017)

Rise: Sacred Water – Standing Rock (2017) – 50 minutes
Rise: Poisoned River (2017) – 44 minutes

Directed by:  Michelle Latimer

RISE is a vibrant, gripping and immersive documentary series that takes us to the frontlines of global indigenous resistance.

The people of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation of North and South Dakota are fighting to stop a pipeline from being built on their ancestral homeland. The Dakota Access Pipeline would snake its way across four states, bisecting sacred Indigenous sites and burial grounds along the route. The tribe fears that a leak could contaminate the Missouri River and spell disaster for the Great Sioux Nation. But water protectors are standing up in unprecedented numbers to preserve their way of life for future generations and to defend their sacred water.

Poisoned River examines indigenous life in the modern age and gives viewers a rare glimpse into Brazil’s Krenak People as they struggle to survive in the wake of a massive toxic spill that has not only contaminated their drinking water, but also their hunting grounds and culture.

Director Michelle Latimer will introduce the film