The Fire in Our Hearts

A community’s fight for land, truth, and autonomy.

93m
Documentary

On British Columbia’s remote Southside, wildfire is not an abstract threat—it is a lived reality. As flames close in on a frontier community, the Cheslatta Carrier Nation and their neighbours face an impossible choice: evacuate, or stay to protect the land that defines them. With limited access and little outside support, the community responds collectively, drawing on Indigenous leadership, cooperation, and generations of knowledge to confront the fire in near isolation. In the aftermath, the burn reveals a long-erased Cheslatta village site, resurfacing a suppressed history just as their response gains wider attention as a model for resilience. But when the flames recede, new constraints emerge—raising questions about the limits of community-led action, and the fragile balance between survival, autonomy, and authority.

Crew

JT

Josias Tschanz

Director

JT

Josias Tschanz

Producer

JT

Josias Tschanz

Director of Photography

JT

Josias Tschanz

Writer

Cast

SA

Stewart Alcock

himself

CB

Cole Bender

himself

BB

Brad Blackwel

himself

GB

Gary Blackwell

himself

JB

Joanne Brown

herself

HB

Hazel Burt

herself

JC

John Casimet

himself

RC

Ryan Chapman

himself

WC

Walt Cravey

himself

DE

David Eby

himself

ME

Monika Eriksen

herself

JG

Jessica Gessel

herself

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