KA'A'GEE TU/KAKISA - More than a year of hard work and 50 hours of footage flickered by in a little more than an hour during the first public screening of a Dehcho First Nations' documentary on the negotiating process.

The film called Dehcho Ndehe gha Nadaotsethe: Fighting for our Land was screened on June 25 in the Kakisa arbour during the Dehcho First Nations (DFN) annual assembly. The film explains the negotiation process between DFN and the federal government, said Rebecca Garrett, a videographer and multimedia instructor from Toronto who led the project.

Felix Isiah, left, Rebecca Garrett and Violet Sanguez were the primary members of the crew that produced a documentary on the negotiation process from the Dehcho First Nations perspective. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The federal government has a lot of material on the process and the DFN negotiation team felt something was needed to articulate the Dehcho's point of view, Garrett said. The film is also designed to educate people about the negotiating process.

"It's not easy for people outside that process to understand what's going on," said Garrett.

The film starts at the beginning of time with the creation story, moves on to the coming of fur traders and missionaries to the Deh Cho and then explores Treaties 8 and 11 before looking at the current Deh Cho Process.

The film project started in March 2007 as Garrett and Felix Isiah travelled to communities in the Deh Cho to gather footage. The project was also a training exercise with Isiah and Violet Sanguez learning how to do camera work and editing during the production.

The film also contains historical footage from the 1920s and 30s and interviews from the Dehcho First Nations negotiating team.

It was an honour to work on the film, said Isiah, adding being part of the project was a way to make a positive contribution to the communities and to spread information.

"The issues that are found in this film, you don't learn about them in school," Isiah said.

Isiah said he has been receiving positive comments on the documentary.

"People generally enjoyed it. They loved it," he said.

The version viewed at the annual assembly is a rough edit lasting an hour and 15 minutes. The film was screened so people could give feedback before the documentary is cut to less than an hour, said Garrett. The film is expected to be ready for broadcast by the end of September.

"The audience for this part of the project is the Deh Cho communities," she said.

The filmmaking duo of Garrett and Isiah might have more projects ahead of them. Garrett said she hopes to do a second film on a similar topic that explores more of the social and cultural issues.

"We had some amazing interviews we couldn't use at all that I'm itching to use for something," she said.