Nettie Wild (Nettie Barry Canada Wild) is a Canadian filmmaker with a focus on documentaries that highlight marginalized groups and discrimination that these groups face, including people in Canada and around the world. She has worked throughout her professional career as an actor, director, producer, and cameraperson.
Early life and education
Wild, full name Nettie Barry Canada Wild,
was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on May 18, 1952 to a British father and a
Kitsilano
Kitsilano () is a neighbourhood located in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Kitsilano is named after Squamish chief August Jack Khatsahlano, and the neighbourhood is located in Vancouver's West Side along the south shore of Engli ...
mother. Their occupations were journalist and opera singer, respectively.
Wild's mother felt that Nettie sticking to her Canadian roots was important, hence the name, and one month after Wild was born, the family moved to Vancouver where Wild would live the majority of her life.
While studying at the University of British Columbia, Wild gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) with a major in creative writing along with a minor in film and theatre.
Alongside her studies, Wild co-founded Touchstone Theatre and Headlines Theatre with David Diamond, a fellow student.
Wild worked with the Touchstone Theatre in 1975-1976 and Headlines Theatre during 1980-1985.
Career
In 1991, she founded the Canada Wild Production with producer
Betsy Carson. The production company was named in part after Wild's full name and reflects their general interest in Canadian based issues, despite making several films on more global issues.
One of Wild's earliest documentaries was ''Right to Fight'' (1982)
which focused on the housing crisis that was taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which caused many people to have difficulty finding adequate housing or to live under the poverty line.
This issue was very close to Wild as she grew up in Vancouver. Despite this, the film was received poorly and did not gain the filmmaker critical acclaim.
Wild would go on to make ''
A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution'' (1988) after spending months in the Philippines, recording footage and interviewing individuals.
During her time in the country, one of Wild's interviews was with a local DJ broadcasting anti-guerrilla propaganda. After threats of violence from this individual, Wild would go on to interview the president of the Philippines who showed support for the DJ.
Wilds motivations behind this film was to show a look inside the revolution taking place in this country; shedding light on the situation, dispelling common Western myths about it, and advocating for support of the country.
This documentary would gain Wild notoriety and support for future endeavors.
''
A Place Called Chiapas
''A Place Called Chiapas'' is a 1998 Canadian documentary film of first-hand accounts of the ''Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional'' (EZLN) the (Zapatista Army of National Liberation or Zapatistas) and the lives of its soldiers and the peo ...
'' (1998) is a documentary by Wild following the protests and revolts that took place in Chiapas, a rural state in Mexico, known for its high rates of poverty.
The events that are documented in this film take place after the signing of NAFTA (the
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...
) and shows its immediate effects. This includes that it caused the
Zapatista National Liberation Army
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (, EZLN), often referred to as the Zapatistas (Mexican ), is a far-left political and militant group that controls a substantial amount of territory in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico.
Since ...
(EZLN) to take over several towns and ranches in the area.
The group was led by
Subcomandante Marcos
Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente (born 19 June 1957) is a Mexican insurgent, the former military leader and spokesman for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in the ongoing Chiapas conflict,Pasztor, S. B. (2004). Marcos, Subcomand ...
and caused much chaos for the town, surrounding area, and the Mexican government. Wild focused her documentary on an outsider's perspective of the rebellion, and in that way the film became immensely successful.
One of Wild's most successful films was ''
Fix: The Story of an Addicted City (2002)'' which focused on the drug issue in Vancouver and the fight over whether safe injection sites should be constructed.
Wild, working as the co-producer and director of the documentary, wanted to show the issues plaguing her home town. The film followed the two sides of the fight over safe injection sites and how to remedy the drug issue killing hundreds of residents every year. The film would go on to become one of Wild's most acclaimed films and lead to governmental involvement.
Filmography
*''Right to Fight'' (1982) dealing with the housing crisis in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
*''
A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution'' (1988)
*''Blockade'' (1993) about a
Gitksan
Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) are an Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory encompasses approxim ...
logging blockade at
Gitwangak
*''
A Place Called Chiapas
''A Place Called Chiapas'' is a 1998 Canadian documentary film of first-hand accounts of the ''Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional'' (EZLN) the (Zapatista Army of National Liberation or Zapatistas) and the lives of its soldiers and the peo ...
'' (1998) about
Zapatistas
Zapatista(s) may refer to:
* Liberation Army of the South
The Liberation Army of the South ( es, Ejército Libertador del Sur, ELS) was a guerrilla force led for most of its existence by Emiliano Zapata that took part in the Mexican Revolut ...
in
Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
.
*''
FIX: The Story of an Addicted City'' (2002) which deals with efforts to provide a
safe injection site
Supervised injection sites (SIS) are medically supervised facilities designed to provide a hygienic environment in which people are able to consume illicit recreational drugs intravenously and prevent deaths due to drug overdoses. The legality ...
in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
*''
Koneline: Our Land Beautiful'' (2016), about the
Tahltan
The Tahltan or Nahani are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut. The Tahltan constitute the fourth division of the ''Nahane' ...
people, its culture, and its lands.
Awards
Wild was awarded the audience award for best documentary film at the 1998
AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fun ...
for ''A Place Called Chiapas''. She was given
Genie Awards
The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...
for
Best Feature Length Documentary for both ''A Place Called Chiapas'' and ''Fix'', and won two awards at the
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
for ''A Rustling of Leaves''.
At the 2016
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...
(HotDocs), Wild won the Best Canadian Feature Documentary Award for ''KONELĪNE: our land beautiful''.
At the 2016
Vancouver International Film Festival
The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October.
The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Fest ...
, Wild's film ''KONELĪNE: our land beautiful'' won the Women in Film and Television Artistic Merit Award, presented to a Canadian feature film at VIFF written and/or directed solely by a woman.
Wild was awarded the 2023
Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts
The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts are annual awards for achievements in visual and media arts in Canada. Up to eight awards are presented annually with the prize amount is $25,000
Created in 2000 by then Governor General Adrie ...
for Artistic Achievement.
References
External links
*
*
*Nettie Wild o
Northernstar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild, Nettie
Canadian women film directors
Canadian documentary film directors
Living people
Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Documentary Film
1952 births
University of British Columbia alumni
Film directors from Vancouver
Canadian women documentary filmmakers