Mirjam Leuze | CANADA
101 min | Feature
In partnership with the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition
Closed captioning available on request: operations@guelphfilmfestival.ca
On the otherwise uninhabited Gil Island, just off the northwest coast of British Columbia, the sound of waves lapping and ravens cawing is punctuated by the haunting whale calls emanating from a network of loudspeakers. Drawn to the rich food sources and quiet waters, humpback whales, pods of orca, fin whales, and porpoises eat, play, and raise their young here, in the Kitimat fjord system. The Whale and the Raven illuminates the many issues that have drawn whale researchers, the Gitga’at First Nation, and the Government of British Columbia into a complex conflict. As the people in the Great Bear Rainforest struggle to protect their territory against the pressure and promise of the gas industry, caught in between are the countless beings that call this place home.
MIRJAM LEUZE - Director Mirjam Leuze, M.A., studied Cultural Anthropology and Film, Theatre and Television in Cologne, Germany, and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Working as a freelance journalist for various television stations and as a director at a Cologne-based production company, she gained broad experience in the documentary field through projects filmed around the world. Mirjam’s first feature-length documentary, Flowers of Freedom, premiered in 2014 at the 64th Berlinale and was nominated for the 2016 German Human Rights Film Award and the 2014 Cinema Fairbindet Prize.