Eleven film-festival laurels and counting... Snk̛míp Dig Deeper is getting rave reviews! You can see it at the Alliance of Canadian Land Trusts summit this fall

The documentary film Snk̛míp Dig Deeper, co-created by Land Trust Alliance of BC member Valhalla Foundation for Ecology in partnership with their Indigenous allies the Autonomous Sinixt, is proving to be both a popular and a critical success. After a successful screening tour last fall throughout the West Kootenay region (15 screenings), film co-director Lorna Visser visited six BC Gulf Island communities in June. These screenings were timed to coincide with National Indigenous Peoples Day. The film is next slated to be shown at the Alliance of Canadian Land Trust’s 2025 Canadian Land Trust Summit in Victoria BC.

Film Festival Laurels Are Piling Up...

Snk̛míp Dig Deeper has garnered international recognition on the film festival circuit. It was selected as an Official Selection in two categories—Social Issues and Environmental—at the WRPN Women's International Film Festival. The film won Best Feature Documentary at the 2025 New York Film and Actress Awards and was an Official Selection at the 2025 Big Apple Film Festival. It also received awards for Best 
First-Time Director(s) and Best Movie Poster at the 2025 Dublin, Ireland, Movie Awards. Snk̛míp Dig Deeper was named a Semi-Finalist at both the 2025 New York International Women's Film Festival and the Seattle Filmmaker Awards for Fall 2025. Most recently it won a laurel for Best Composing, and award which is richly deserved by our amazing music-score composer Noel Fudge. Several more film festivals have been entered; the co-producers await the results with baited breath!

Community Screenings Captivate Viewers...

In the fall of 2024 the film was premiered in the West Kootenay region of BC. The co-producers organized a series of public community screenings in Sinixt tmxʷúlaʔxʷ (territory), in southeastern BC.  Snk̛míp Dig Deeper received broad acclaim when shown to communities in the West Kootenay region and was viewed by several thousand people. Since then there have been private online screenings for selected conservation groups (for example, the Islands Trust Conservancy) and Indigenous groups.

Most recently (in June 2025), six Gulf Island land trust organizations hosted screenings of Snk̛míp Dig Deeper for supporters and community members.  Co-director Lorna Visser of the VFE with colleague Wayne McCrory ferried between well-attended presentations on six Gulf Islands.  Each screening was followed by a lively discussion with topics ranging from land trusts' Indigenous reconciliation and decolonization work to the finer points of ecological restoration techniques. The presenters had to keep to a hectic schedule but it was nonetheless an enjoyable and eye-opening visit to many of BC's most beautiful island locations.

“This trip, to show Snk̛míp Dig Deeper to colleagues in the land trust movement, was so uplifting and empowering," said Visser. "It was wonderful to connect with so many dedicated conservationists and to learn about other groups’ restoration programs and land acquisitions,” she said. "And it was an honour to share our organization’s experience through the medium of film. We're grateful we are to the Land Trust Alliance of BC for bringing us together as colleagues to learn and share: that's a collaboration that strengthens us all.”

Land Trust Viewers' React With Fulsome Praise...

This attendee took in the screening on S,DÁYES / Pender Island: “For too long, Indigenous peoples trying to preserve their traditional unceded territories and conservation groups trying to protect land from industrial exploitation have not worked together.  Despite overlapping objectives, collaboration has not been the norm.  However the relationship shown in this inspirational film, Snk̛míp Dig Deeper, has broken that mold.  This beautifully filmed documentary tells the story of how a conservation society and Indigenous people came together to preserve and restore a freshwater marsh... and in the process achieved an act of profound reconciliation.”

Here is the reaction of a viewer who saw the film at the Penelakut / Thetis Island event: "I was deeply impressed with Snk̛míp Dig Deeper. Thanks for sharing it with the Thetis community, it provided us with a lot to think and talk about amongst our socially and politically engaged members. The structure was most impressive, moving from the excitement of doing something for the environment to suddenly encountering the important, and initially almost invisible, Indigenous connection to the project. The film was also visually and audibly engaging, not an easy double target to hit in a documentary."

This viewer who attended the Mayne Island screening event gave Snk̛míp Dig Deeper this review: "Your magnificent film expanded my knowledge, warmed my heart, raised questions that needed to be asked and most importantly, this film inspired us to continue the work of healing and protecting the wild."

To Learn More about Snk̛míp Dig Deeper...

Snk̛míp Dig Deeper is a professionally made, feature-length documentary with a run-time of slightly less than an hour. It is formatted for theatrical presentation and includes a beautiful, original, custom-composed music score and stunning cinematography that make it suitable for large-screen viewing in a cinema.

For background on the production including director bios, behind-the-scenes insights, independent reviews, and context about the restoration and reconciliation work done at Snk̛míp Marsh, check out the film's official website https://www.digdeeperfilm.ca. For additional information about Snk̛míp Dig Deeper and where you can see it (or how you can organize a screening for your community or organization), please contact our film publicist Yasmin at producer@digdeeperfilm.ca.