A documentary directed by Fort Nelson’s Ryan Dickie, titled Tea Creek, will have its worldwide premiere next month at Vancouver’s Doxa Documentary Film Festival.
Set in northwest British Columbia, the film details Jason Beaton’s efforts to turn the Tea Creek Farm into a training hub focusing on Indigenous food sovereignty.
According to a video on the Tea Creek website, the farm – in Kitwanga, BC – is about 140 acres, with three fields in production. According to a 2022 Tyee report, the initiative features land-based, culturally safe, Indigenous-led farming that produces about 20,000 lb of produce per year.
“The Gitxan peoples of that region had a long history of agriculture that I wasn’t aware of pre-colonization. When the residential school system was established, that part of their history was essentially lost,” said Dickie.
“Tea Creek is one of the first concrete solutions for them to get that part of their history back.”
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Once they reached Tea Creek in April 2022, Dickie and producer Ben Cox ended up deviating from their original idea of covering three separate stories.
“When we got there, we realized it was a film itself. There were so many compelling storylines and people,” Dickie said.
The filmmakers spent the first 18 months trying to raise funds.
“There’s lots of writing for grants and Zoom meetings,” said Dickie. “With projects like this, there are constraints when it comes to budget and funding, especially in the North where everything is more expensive.”
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Filming went into most of 2023. The team spent this past winter and spring editing.
Dickie had worked with Cox, a freelance filmmaker based in Vancouver, on a project called In the Land of Dreamers for CBC.
“He had been looking for an Indigenous director to help him tell his story,” Dickie said of Cox and their work together.
“Ben allowed me the opportunity, and I, living in the North, am somewhat disconnected from the film industry. It was a good learning experience and one I am grateful for.”
According to Dickie, shooting Tea Creek has a profound impact on him. He hopes to help bring issues like intergenerational trauma and the impacts of colonization to light.
“Growing up on the reserves in Fort Nelson, our stories are often intertwined with the trauma,” said Dickie. “This film will touch upon that.”
Tea Creek will premiere at the Doxa Film Festival on May 4. For more information and tickets, visit the festival’s website.
