30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

Fort St. John, founded in 1794 as a small trading outpost in British Columbia, is one of the capitals of the Canadian oil industry. Built along the Peace River Valley, it was the hub of the oil race and of a never-ending colonisation. The project for a huge dam threatens to submerge 5,500 hectares of a valley inhabited by members of the indigenous communities. Once home to the Dane-Zaa natives, the snow-covered city is the point of encounter for the lives of three characters. A young worker who has lost his job, and tries to keep his family, looking for a destination beyond the white horizon that dominates the view; an indigenous woman, who has faced a terrible loss and is now in the forefront in defence of the young natives, keeping alive the memory of lost lives according to the rituals of her people, and an adolescent, the last descendant of a family of drummers, looking for a path to follow between modernity and native traditions.

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  Jean Parsons

  Jean Parsons is a writer, director, and actress. In addition to making artistic video installations, she was the Lead Story Producer in a series of documentaries for the CBC. In 2017 she co-founded  Self-directed Studies. With Jennifer Chiu, she debuted with the documentary drama Cabbie.

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  Jennifer Chiu

  Jennifer Chiu is a writer, artist and prize-winning documentary director. She has worked as a producer for British and American television. Co-founder of Self-directed Studies, her first film, Cabbie, received the BC Ignite Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2016.