New Haida documentary The Stand premieres in Nanaimo on January 5th

*The Stand* is a documentary blending archival footage with Auchter’s own animations to tell the story of the Haida Nation’s stand to defend their land from deforestation in 1985. Photo from the National Film Board of Canada

Christopher Auchter, writer and director of *The Stand*

Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter’s debut feature film The Stand will premiere in Nanaimo on Sunday, January 5th at 4pm, at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre. The Stand is a documentary blending archival footage with Auchter’s own animations to tell the story of the Haida Nation’s stand to defend their land from deforestation in 1985.

Filmmaker Christopher Auchter spoke to CHLY about his new film The Stand and its upcoming Nanaimo premiere.

“My name's Christopher Auchter and my film is called The Stand and it takes place in 1985, when the Haida took it upon themselves to stand up for the land that sustained them for over 14,000 years, and just said ‘that's enough’ in terms of the logging. But really it was a stand in terms of a protection of our culture. ‘Cause when the trees go and the land goes, so do we, in terms of who we are as a people. It was a big moment.”

Auchter said that his choice not to record any new interviews, and to only utilize archival footage, was the best way to let those that were there in 1985 tell their own story without inserting his own understanding, or letting the passing of time alter the telling.

“ Because even though those interviews are going to be so valuable and they're so important, I didn't want the sand or the fog of time, however you want to say it, [to] kind of cloud kind of those moments on the road. Because, you know, things change in our memory. So I just wanted to keep it in the moment. So every time you hear something in the film, even if it's an audio clip, it's from the people that lived it and they don't even know what's going to happen the next day.”

So far The Stand has premiered in Vancouver at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) where it won the 2024 Northern Lights audience award and was given special mention for the juried ARBUTUS award.

“ And you know it's so cool too, because you make the film for the audience, and you have all those people voting, and every film is voted upon, and it feels so good to get that. To have that kind of recognition from the audience, that ‘we really enjoyed this.’ So that felt great.”

Tickets to see The Stand at its Nanaimo premiere on January 5th are available on the Nanaimo International Film Screening Society website. More information about filmmaker Christopher Auchter’s previous work can be found on the National Film Board website.

An extended interview on Midcoast Morning can be found here.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada. Reporting done in the Comox Valley is done in partnership with CVOX.