102 minutes, English, Snsəlxcín, 2022
Beyond Extinction traces Indigenous matriarchs who revive traditions and fight to save an ancient burial ground in BC’ Slocan Valley. Declared “extinct” by the Indian Act, the film documents their intimate living histories and their decades long struggle for recognition.
Spanning over 25 years, Beyond Extinction: A Sinixt Resurgence is a visually rich and deeply moving documentary that follows the resurgence of the Sinixt people—whose traditional territories stretch across what is now southwest British Columbia and Washington State, territories divided by a colonial border.
Declared “extinct” by the Canadian government in 1956, the Sinixt have fought back— to reclaim their rights, their land, their ancestors, and their stories. Through intimate access, filmmaker Ali Kazimi chronicles a remarkable journey of Indigenous resistance and renewal, guided by the wisdom and courage of Sinixt matriarchs Eva Orr, Alvina Lum, and Marilyn James.
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“The story is critical history for the province known as British Columbia, but also holds much wider resonance for a country currently grappling with its colonial past and present” — POV Magazine
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The film begins with sweeping visuals that ground us in Sinixt territory before diving into a harrowing story of one man’s deportation—born on Sinixt land south of the 49th parallel but deemed an outsider by Canadian immigration law. From there, Beyond Extinction expands into a multigenerational narrative that connects personal survival stories with broader battles against colonial laws, residential schools, and environmental exploitation.
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“…tracks appalling underside of colonialism in B.C.” — The Georgia Straight
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Using a powerful blend of contemporary interviews, observational footage, oral histories, and never-before-seen archival material, the film captures the revival of ceremonies, the repatriation of ancestral remains, and the legal battles that culminated in a landmark Supreme Court decision. Yet, as the film poignantly shows, the fight against erasure is far from over.
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“It asks its audience to re-examine their own complicity in this colonial project, and exudes hope by offering a glimpse of the Sinixt Nation’s persistence in the face of erasure.” —Asparagus Magazine
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Beyond Extinction: A Sinixt Resurgence is not just a documentary—it is an act of witness. It is a call to reckon with traumatic histories that have long been buried, and to honor the ongoing resurgence of a people who refuse to disappear.
Sinixt matriarch Marilyn James, Photo Credit: Louis Bockner
Filmmaker Biography
In 2019, Ali Kazimi was honoured with the Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in Visual and Media Arts for over three decades of ground-breaking work as a documentary and media artist whose work deals with race, social justice, migration, history, and memory. His film Continuous Journey (2004), alongside his book, Undesirables: White Canada and the Komagata Maru (2011), have played a key role in shedding light on the forgotten histories of early South Asian immigration to Canada.
Born, raised, and educated in India, Kazimi came to Canada to study film production at York University in 1983. Two decades later, after establishing himself as an award-winning independent filmmaker, Kazimi returned to York University.
He is a full Professor in the Department of Cinema & Media Arts, where he has also served as the Chair of the Department. Kazimi’s films have received over two dozen national and international honours and awards, been screened in prestigious festivals and broadcast nationally and internationally. His films include: Narmada; A Valley Rises (1994), Shooting Indians: A Journey with Jeffrey Thomas (1997), Continuous Journey (2004) and Random Acts of Legacy (2016).
The University of British Columbia conferred an honorary degree, Doctor of Letters (honoris causa), to Kazimi in 2019.
Filmography
Narmada; A Valley Rises (1994)
Shooting Indians: A Journey with Jeffrey Thomas (1997)
Some Kind of Arrangement (1998)
Continuous Journey (2004)
Rex versus Singh (2008)
Random Acts of Legacy (2016)
Credits
Writer, Director, Producer: Ali Kazimi
Editor: Susan Shanks
Cinematographer: Ali Kazimi
Additional Cinematography: Tucker Anderson
Drone Footage: Tucker Anderson, Isaac Carter, Michelle Connolly, Douglas Noblet
Location Sound: Jeff Carter, Scott Humphries, Ali Kazimi
Sound Editors: Scott Purdy, Phil Strong
Music Composer: Phil Strong
Re-Recording: Scott Purdy
Maps: Julie Witmer Custom Map Design
Visual Research: Ali Kazimi, Susan Shanks
Archival Clearances: Jocelyne Clarke
On-line Editor & Colourist: Tony Manolikakis
Links
How one word is preventing the Sinixt people from recognition in Canada
By Ali Kazimi, The National Observer, May 31st 2021
