“Anyone who can throw a hatchet and sue you is a force to be reckoned with.”
That’s how renowned climate activist Bill McKibben describes Caleb Behn, the charismatic subject of the Canadian feature documentary Fractured Land.
Screening in Vernon Wednesday, the film, co-produced and directed by first-time feature filmmakers Damien Gillis and Fiona Rayher, in association with CBC’s Documentary Channel and the Knowledge Network, follows Behn, a young Indigenous lawyer from northeastern B.C., as he grapples with the impact of hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) on his territory.
“This isn’t an environmental or issue film,” said Gillis, who will speak about his film at the screening in Vernon. “Yet through Caleb’s intensely personal journey, we delve deep into important topics like fracking, resource politics and Canada’s colonial legacy.”
Behn confronts some of the world’s largest fracking operations as well as the fractures within his community, his family, and himself as he struggles to reconcile traditional teachings with the law to protect the land.
Behn’s mother is a high-ranking oil and gas officer trying to make change from the inside, while his father is a residential school survivor and staunch environmentalist.
Intelligent, articulate and speaking with conviction, Behn has learned how to straddle these two different worlds, whether hunting beaver, throwing hatchets or studying legal briefs.
“It’s fascinating to watch this compelling and inspiring character blend modern tools of the law with traditional knowledge. He really welcomed us into his world,” said Rayher.
Fractured Land comes to Vernon on the heels of its award-winning run at the Vancouver International Film Festival, where it claimed Best B.C. Film and the VIFF Impact Canadian Audience Award.
The film has also received multiple five-star reviews and was named a Top 10 audience favourite at the world-renowned Hot Docs International Film Festival in Toronto.
Hosted by the Sustainable Environment Network Society (www.sensociety.org), the screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Gillis, focusing on LNG, fracking, and B.C.’s energy economy.
The film shows Wednesday, March 2 at 7 p.m. at the Schubert Centre (3505 30th Ave.) Tickets are $10/adult, $5/student at the door.
