Line in the Sand film premieres in Prince George

Line In The Sand, a feature-length documentary which examines the political context which precipitated the pipeline’s approval will have its Canadian premiere in Prince George on March 31.

A project press release says the documentary was filmed over two years and that while “highlighting the imminence and uncertainty felt at the local level,” Line In The Sand “lays bare the visceral connection felt by those who call the land home, their struggles to be heard and the lengths to which many are willing to go to protect their sense of place and identify.”

On the timing of the film’s release, co-director and producer Tomas Borsa said:

“We’ve reached a liminal moment in Canadian history, in which falling oil prices, coinciding with a fall federal election, mean that energy politics will be at the forefront of conversation fro quite some time. The Northern Gateway is the single most salient and significant marker of that trend in Canada.”

On the decision to premiere the film in northern B.C., Borsa said:

“We wanted to premiere the film in northern B.C. as a condition of respect to those impacted by the project. There’s a tendency for journalists to ‘parachute in,’ collect material and then leave. We wanted to respect the intrinsic link between place and identity felt by many who live in the path of the pipeline by holding the first screenings in the regions in question.”

The screenings in northern B.C. include tour dates in Quesnel, Tache, Fort St. James, Burns Lake, Old Hazelton, Unist’ot’en Camp, Terrace, Smithers, Kitimat and other communities. A wider release of the film will follow later this spring. The tour is supported in part by Emily Carr University, UNBC, CNC, Council of the Haida Nation, Friends of Morice Bulkley, Tl’azt’en First Nation and others.

Line in the Sand will be shown Tuesday, March 31 at University of Northern British Columbia’s Canfor Theatre from 6 to 9 p.m. An additional screening will be held on Wednesday, April 1 at the College of New Caledonia, Room 1-306.

Tomas Borsa is a Vancouver-based journalist, photographer and multimedia artist. Jean Philippe Marquis is a Vancouver-based journalist, photographer and ethnographic filmmaker. More information can be found on the project’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lineinthesandproject.