Lelu Island Film to get Vancouver Film festival showing tonight

A film on the protest from Lelu Island
will make its debut at a Vancouver
Film Festival tonight

The perspectives of those opposing LNG development on Lelu Island will be one of the featured attractions at this years Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, with A Last Stand for Lelu, a 25 minute documentary feature among the movies being presented during the event.

The film which receives its first showing tonight would appear to be a much anticipated event, with festival organizers having already put out the Sold Out sign for this evening's debut.

A Last Stand for Lelu, co-directed by Tamo Campos and Farhan Umedaly will look at the the story of those who have set up camp on Lelu Island, highlighting their efforts to oppose the plans from Pacific NorthWest LNG to develop an LNG terminal on the Island.

The Georgia Straight previews tonight's presentation taking place at Vancouver's Cinematheque, part of the Film Festival's Environmental program, providing the background on a film that would appear to be fully focused on the message of the opponents to the development and their call for resistance to the project.

The key take away from the pre festival coverage of the film coming from an observation from Mr. Umedaly, with the co-director of the film taking note of Prime Minister Trudeau's recent commitment towards reconciliation and more engagement with First Nations and offering up his suggestion for how the Prime Minister should address the topic.

“If Justin Trudeau really wants to mend the injustices of the past, Lelu would be a great place to start. "

The Environment Minister and Federal cabinet will be making the final decision on the proposed project in the weeks to come, reviewing the proposal following the current thirty day final comment period now underway as part of the CEAA Draft Report process.

A short clip of the film is provided as part of the preview of tonight's showing.

 


Both film makers have been recognized in the past for their efforts on environmental issues. 

Tamo Campos is the grandson of environmentalist David Suzuki and has created a number of films on the impact of development on the environment, Farhan Umedaly is a Vancouver based film maker who has produced a number of videos about climate change with Mr. Suzuki as well.

As part of the Film festival program, Mr. Umedlay will be on hand at tonight's presentation to speak on the theme of the movie and how it came together.

You can find more on the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival here, the Festival page dedicated towards A Last Stand for Lelu can be viewed here.