When wildfires threatened their homes in northern British Columbia in 2018, members of the Cheslatta Carrier Nation and their neighbours faced a decision that would shape their community’s future: leave, or stay and defend the land they called home.
Their response is at the heart of The Fire in Our Hearts, a feature documentary by Swiss-Canadian filmmaker Josias Tschanz, which opened in Golden this past weekend and continues its run at the Kicking Horse Theatre through Oct. 29.
The 86-minute film documents how Indigenous leadership, local knowledge and cooperation helped residents of the remote Southside region confront a devastating wildfire season. It also explores what the fires revealed about the land’s history and the people whose lives remain closely tied to it.
For Tschanz, who is now based in Vancouver, the story is deeply personal.
He arrived in the Southside as a teenager, newly immigrated and unable to speak English. In his director’s statement, he describes finding acceptance, purpose and a sense of belonging among a population that included Indigenous families, farmers, loggers, Mennonites and fellow immigrants.
Years later, watching the fires unfold from Vancouver, he felt compelled to return.
“Unable to stay away, I crossed the lake back into the active fire zone, camera in hand, to document what was unfolding from the inside,” Tschanz writes.
According to the film’s press materials, residents faced 27 major fires during a single season across a region of approximately 10,000 square kilometres, home to fewer than 2,000 people. Distance, limited access and stretched emergency resources left residents relying heavily on one another.
The documentary follows that response, showing neighbours working together to protect homes, livelihoods, forests and cultural sites. It also examines the community’s efforts to strengthen its ability to respond to future emergencies through the Chinook Emergency Response Society, communication networks and equipment for tackling approaching fires.
Alongside the immediate struggle against the flames, the film follows another discovery: the remains of a Cheslatta village site exposed by the fire.
The Cheslatta Carrier Nation was forcibly displaced from its villages in the 1950s by a hydroelectric development. The rediscovery connects the wildfire story to a longer history of displacement, cultural memory and the enduring relationship between people and land.
“This film is not about assigning blame,” Tschanz writes. “It is about witnessing what happens when small, self-reliant communities are forced to depend on themselves.”
The documentary has earned international recognition, including the Sundar Prize for Best Environmental Film. Tschanz also reports documentary and cinematography honours at WorldFest Houston.
The Golden screenings carry an additional significance for the filmmaker, whose earlier work brought him to the community.
“About ten years ago, I directed a documentary about the Swiss mountaineers in the Canadian Rockies, together with Rudi Gertsch,” Tschanz said in a message to The Golden Star.
“That film also featured the Swiss village in Golden, so it’s particularly meaningful to me to have another documentary screening in your community.”
Tschanz was unable to attend the opening weekend in Golden because of a previously confirmed screening in Nanaimo.
For local audiences, The Fire in Our Hearts offers a close look at a northern B.C. community’s experience of wildfire, and the relationships, knowledge and determination that helped its residents respond.
The film continues at the Kicking Horse Theatre until Oct. 29. Check the theatre’s current listings for remaining screening times.
