Land of Oil and Water

Two Canadian Aboriginal communities fight for their traditional way of life amid the most destructive oil recovery operation ever known. This sensitive and nuanced documentary follows the journey of Warren Cariou, a writer from Northern Saskatchewan, who learns that oil companies from Alberta are expanding into his homeland. Warren travels back to the Cree and Dene community of La Loche and to the nearby Métis village of Buffalo Narrows to ask the people what they hope the development will bring in the future, and also what they fear about it. He then travels across the border to Alberta and speaks to the Native people there who have lived with the oil sand developments for more than thirty years. The film provides a personal and compelling portrait of Canadian Aboriginal communities and their struggle to preserve their way of life in the face of rapid and relentless change.