Story

Fairy Creek is a feature length documentary film chronicling the significant and contentious Fairy Creek old-growth blockade.

The Fairy Creek movement started in 2020 when construction of a new logging road was discovered coursing towards the headwaters of the untouched Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek) valley on Vancouver Island, Canada; the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation. A group of environmentalists set up a blockade to stop the road building. The movement grew from one blockade camp to many, capturing the imaginations of concerned citizens, activists, and Indigenous land defenders who came together in an effort to save some of Canada’s last remaining old growth forests. But when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived to arrest people for standing in the way of logging, thousands more protestors flocked to the woods to participate in a dramatic and historic stand-off for the forest.

Produced by Understory Films, Fairy Creek is a unique embedment into the inner workings of activist culture by following an ensemble cast of blockaders and forestry workers. Employing in-the-trenches cinema verité, viewers are brought into the throes of this complicated movement. The storyline meets at the juncture of personal sacrifice, Indigenous sovereignty, ecological grief, and interpersonal tension, leading to the fallout of Canada’s largest ever demonstration of civil disobedience.

We need your help to finish the film and screen it worldwide.

Stills from film.

We need to raise the first $30K by August 2024 to complete post production.

Remaining funds will go towards implementing a robust impact campaign that aims to educate the public on the effects of old growth logging and equip activist communities with broad stroke best practices for frontline activism.

We’re focusing on these impact goals because:

• Old growth coastal temperate rainforests in North America’s Pacific Northwest, like the forests found in the Fairy Creek valley, are said to be some of the most biodiverse and carbon-dense forests in the world. Yet, in just over a century, British Columbia’s timber industry has harvested 97 percent of the most productive and largest old growth trees, with only 2.7 percent of ancient forests remaining in the province.
• The Fairy Creek old growth movement was known internationally as a climate frontline, acting as a roadmap for direct actions across the globe.

Our impact strategy will involve compiling and distributing resources for land defenders and activist communities, creating educational discussion kits, organizing community screenings and panels, and advocating for permanent protection of old growth forests.

With your donation, we can complete the necessary post-production and bring this film into communities, classrooms, and board rooms to spark meaningful change and resilient climate activism.

Stills from film.

Understory Films is a production company based in British Columbia owned by Jen Muranetz (director/co-producer) and Sepehr Samimi (co-producer/director of photography). The project involves seasoned Canadian filmmakers, including Mark Achbar, Neal Livingston and Nettie Wild.

Jen Muranetz (she/her) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker living on unceded Coast Salish territories in so-called Vancouver, BC. She’s a director, producer, editor, cinematographer and former video journalist. Her films are character-driven and impact-focused, centered around environmental justice and human resilience. Her previous works have screened in festivals such as DOXA, DOK Leipzig and Planet in Focus. She’s participated in numerous film labs including DOCNYC Voices of Canada, Canadian Creative Accelerator, Whistler Doc Lab, BANFF Diversity of Voices and Story Money Impact’s Story to Action.

Sepehr Samimi (he/him) is an Iranian-Canadian documentary cinematographer and producer (BFA film production from SFU). He specializes in filming on the frontlines of urgent social and political movements across the world such as on: If [I Was] To Retain You, shot in Hong Kong during the umbrella movement, hit global climate movement film The Magnitude of All Things, and Constant Battles for Telus Originals, featuring the Woman Life Freedom movement from Iran. Sepehr is a member of Intl Cinematographers Guild (ICG669) and Canadian Cinematographers Society, and alumni of HotDocs Doc Accelerator program.

Stills from film.

Donate today to complete this film and take a step towards supporting frontline climate activism.

This film has been primarily shot on the unceded, ancestral lands of the Pacheedaht and Ditidaht First Nations. We acknowledge that Indigenous cultures, spirituality, values, philosophy and intellectual property have existed since time immemorial and that we do not retain the rights to their culture or story. We respectfully recognize and give gratitude to the stories and songs shared by Indigenous communities during the creation of this project.