May 8-12, 2023 from 10am-5pm, the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center (AAPLIC*) is hosting feature length and short films for the North American Caribou Workshop & Arctic Ungulate Conference (NACW-AUC)!
Below is a film schedule: titles and start times - click each one for descriptions.
* AAPLIC is located at 605 W 4th Ave, Anchorage AK 99501 (this is a Federal Building with security screening).
Feature Length Films (held in theater)
Below are a list of start times, titles, and descriptions for the feature length films being shown in the theater at the AAPLIC for the NACW-AUC.
In this feature-length documentary, husband and wife team Karsten Heuer (wildlife biologist) and Leanne Allison (environmentalist) follow a herd of 120,000 caribou on foot across 1500 km of Arctic tundra. In following the herd's migration, the couple hopes to raise awareness of the threats to the caribou's survival. Along the way they brave Arctic weather, icy rivers, hordes of mosquitoes and a very hungry grizzly bear. Dramatic footage and video diaries combine to provide an intimate perspective of an epic expedition.
Last Stand: The Vanishing Caribou Rainforest is a cinematic journey into the tragically threatened world of endangered mountain caribou, their home in the world's largest remaining inland temperate rainforest, and the critical human choices that will ultimately decide the fate of this stunning ecosystem. With the failure of agencies in the U.S. and Canada to regulate industrial resource extraction effectively, honor the treaty rights of indigenous peoples, and protect the integrity of the natural systems of this region, this film gives voice to First Nations, scientists, foresters, conservationists, and recreationists attempting to chart a new path forward before it is too late.
Discover a land that has evolved intact and untamed since the beginning of time, a world few have truly seen until now. For the first time on the giant screen, join National Geographic photographer Florian Schulz to experience this special place worth protecting.
The Issue with Tissue documents the little known, largely untold story of the boreal forest and the Indigenous First Nations who call it home, that it is being clearcut for the manufacture of toilet paper and that protecting and conserving the boreal is an existential imperative.
Told in the words and voices of the First Nations Elders and Leaders of the boreal, leading scientists and activists, The Issue with Tissue creates a kind of talking circle that inspires our storytellers to speak with candor and intimacy about the issues confronting us all, and that the way forward lies in elevating and supporting Indigenous knowledge and stewardship that is rooted in an ages old connection to the boreal forest and the trees that are housed therein.
We learn that the boreal is critical to our survivability, that it is the largest remaining intact forest on planet earth, it stores more carbon than any other terrestrial landscape, it is the largest fresh water source with countless lakes, rivers and wetlands. The boreal is North America's bird nursery - approximately 2 billion birds nest in the boreal each year, as many as 5 billion migrate south in the fall. It is home to iconic species like caribou, bears, moose and wolves - many listed as endangered because of unfettered extractive industrial exploitation.
It is also home to more than 600 Indigenous First Nations communities who have lived sustainably on the boreal for thousands of years. That the logging industry, mainly to feed American consumer products companies, is clearcutting these last remaining old growth, large intact forest landscapes so we can wipe our bums with softer, more plush toilet paper.
All of this, and more, makes up The Issue with Tissue, told powerfully and poignantly by a stellar group of First Nations Elders and Leaders, scientists and activists, including Senator Michèle Audette, Innu First Nation, Dr. Suzanne Simard, author of “Finding the Mother Tree”, the late Elder Dave Courchene, founder of the Turtle Lodge, Valérie Courtois, Executive Director Indigenous Leadership Initiative, and Dr. Nigel Roulet, a lead author of the United Nations’ IPCC reports, to name but a few of the assembled group who open their hearts and share their stories, lifting their voices in a unified outcry: The boreal must be protected and conserved.
Below are a list of start times, titles, and descriptions for the short films being shown in the center at the AAPLIC for the NACW-AUC.
"Tuttunnaiq" is a video about caribou hunting featuring the elders and community members of Selawik, an Indigenous Iñupiaq community in Northwest Alaska. In this video, experienced hunters share their knowledge and beliefs about the proper way to hunt caribou. This includes safety, hunter ethics and stories about how caribou hunting around Selawik has changed over the years. Originally intended as an introduction for local youth into how caribou should be hunted and butchered, Tuttunnaiq gives anyone a peek inside the rich way of life of these northern indigenous people. This video was produced by USFWS Selawik National Wildlife Refuge, NANA Regional Elders' Council, and Aqqaluk Trust.
Produced by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, this video describes the complex process of how wildlife biologists keep track of caribou herd population numbers.
Working for Wildlife videos explore the exciting work of biologists and other wildlife professionals at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This video shows how we do moose surveys in northwest Alaska.
Working for Wildlife videos explore the exciting work of biologists and other wildlife professionals at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This video highlights muskox research taking place in Alaska.
The Bathurst caribou herd have migrated Canada’s arctic since before memory. In the last 30 years their population has mysteriously dropped from 500,000 to just under 9,000. Climate change, predation, industrial development, and over hunting are all suspect, but at this time, no one knows exactly what is happening to the herd.
The Tłı̨chǫ people have an intimate connection with the Bathurst. The herd has been a source of food, clothing and deep culture. However, a future without the Bathurst has become a very real possibility.
Knowing that something must be done, they take action. Using the traditional teachings of their elders they travel to the barren land and walk countless kilometres with the Bathurst to watch over them in their time of need.
Elders from Aseniwuche Winewak Nation share their stories and memories of the caribou that once thrived on the land and sustained the local Indigenous community. Atih Acimowina (Caribou Stories) reflects on the changes the Aseniwuche Winewak have witnessed over the last five decades and their effects on the environment, traditional Indigenous ways, and their implications on the future.
Video made at the Atik Forum 2022 by Josué Bertolino, Les productions vives. A production of the Abitibiwinni First Nation Council - Territory and Environment with the participation of Anicinapek Apitipi Nation, Washaw Sibi Eeyou et Moose Cree First Nation.
The Brooks Range is one of Earth's largest roadless areas. In 2013, the State of Alaska proposed building a 225-mile industrial access road to facilitate the construction of an open-copper pit mine near the village of Ambler. This would be the largest road construction project in Alaska since the development of the Dalton Highway in 1974. The Ambler Road would parallel five subsistence communities, cross 161 rivers and streams (two of them designated Wild and Scenic Rivers) and pass through Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. The Ambler Mining District and proposed road serves as habitat for salmon, whitefish and sheefish as well as a crucial migration corridor for Alaska's largest caribou herd, the Western Arctic. Eleven Village councils have passed resolutions against the road's development. In 2016 we traveled 350 miles along road corridor into the Brooks Range to question the meaning of progress and ask what may be lost if the tundra is paved to Ambler.
Two First Nations in western Canada come together to protect an iconic animal they’ve relied upon for countless generations. "Caribou Homeland”, an 11-minute short film, offers a glimpse into the multi-faceted, Indigenous led, conservation project that has created the most successful caribou recovery program in North America. The West Moberly and Saulteau First Nations’ work to restore mountain caribou, food sovereignty and their traditional cultures is a unique and poignant bright spot on the conservation map.
Counting on Caribou: Iñupiaq Way of Life in Northwest Alaska. This film showcases the ways in which the Iñupiat people of Northwest Alaska are seeking to maintain their connection to caribou and the influences that threaten this staple subsistence food.
The remote Arctic is experiencing the greatest changes in climate of anywhere on the planet. While small changes send rippling effects through these delicate ecosystems, the predictions of drastic change leave scientists worried about the future of many Arctic organisms. For millennia local subsistence communities have understood, depended upon and celebrated the annual migration of the Central Arctic Herd of caribou. Tens of thousands of caribou repeat the 500-mile journey through the treacherous Brooks Range, however, affected vegetation, weather and permafrost are jeopardizing this safe passage. Cloven documents an international team of research scientists as they attempt to unearth whether the future will offer the Central Arctic Herd enough forage to continue making their epic annual migration.
