GOOD FIRE
DIRECTORS: RONI JO DRAPER + MARISSA LILA
GOOD FIRE is a feature-length documentary about how fire came to the land as a tool to warm people, cook meals, and purify the land. It also tells the story of how colonization separated Yurok people from their cultural fire practices and how that separation of people, land, and fire has had dire consequences for the people and the land. Ultimately, GOOD FIRE is the story of how Yurok people are working to ensure that people, land, and fire remain united now and into the future.
PITCH + TEASER
VOTING OPENS MONDAY, APRIL 15 • 10AM PT
VOTING CLOSES WEDNESDAY, MAY 1 • 11:59PM PT
SYNOPSIS
GOOD FIRE follows Margo Robbins (Yurok), and the leadership team of the Cultural Fire Management Council (a non-profit organization created and led by tribal members to facilitate the practice of cultural fire on Yurok lands). Elizabeth Azzuz (Yurok/Karuk), Robert McConnell (Yurok), and Claire Brown bring their knowledge and strengths to return fire to the people. To further their vision of healing the world, they are seeking to purchasing a piece of land in Weitchpec to build a Cultural Fire Training Center—a firehouse dedicated to placing fire on the land and educating the world about good fire.
DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT
I grew up listening to my father’s stories of placing fire on the land. The stories fascinated me and I longed to experience the wonder of burning the land. I never imagined that I would find myself in a position to share the story about the people currently working on Yurok lands to use fire in a good way. Meanwhile, Marissa Lila (they/them) (Co-director, Cinematographer), with their voracious curiosity, found in this project the opportunity to tell a story about powerful women who approach fire and land stewardship as both a material and spiritual practice.
As collaborative storytellers, we gathered a team of creators interested in understanding Indigenous approaches to land management, exploring how Indigenous women lead initiatives, and considering ways to address climate change, while centering the histories, voices, and experiences of Yurok people. In this way, the film offers audiences insight into the knowledge, commitment, humor, and joy of Indigenous peoples.
At the heart of Yurok knowledge keeping and sharing is storytelling. Documentary film offers us a way to extend Yurok storytelling to people beyond the villages that dot the lower Klamath River. Like all Yurok stories, GOOD FIRE seeks to tell a story that is simultaneously about life and community and land and futures told in a beautiful way.
Wok’hlew
Roni Jo Draper (Yurok, she/her) (Director/Writer)
PROJECT INFO.
| LENGTH (MINUTES): | 86 |
| LANGUAGE: | English |
| START OF PRODUCTION: | June 15, 2024 |
| EXPECTED DELIVERY: | October 04, 2025 |
| SHOOTING FORMAT: | 4K |
| SHOOTING LOCATIONS: | Weitchpec, California |
| TOTAL BUDGET: | $656,913. |
| PRODUCTION COMPANY: | Fire Frog Media |
| PRODUCTION COUNTRY: | United States |
| CONFIRMED PARTNERS: | TVS, California Humanities, Sundance Institute, Women Make Movies, Utah Film Commission |
| BUDGET GAP: | $203,913. |
| CURRENT PROJECT STATUS: | Production |
PITCH TEAM
RONI JO DRAPER
WRITER • DIRECTOR • PRODUCER
RONI JO DRAPER, PhD is an enrolled member of the Yurok tribe, from the village of Weispus (Weitchpec) at the fork of the Klamath and Trinity Rivers in Northern California. Her experience as a Yurok woman, and the realities and acute pain of discriminatory practices and policies enacted in school settings, has influenced her writing and work as a teacher, scholar, and artist. Roni produced Scenes From the Glittering World, stories of three Diné adolescents living on the fringes of the Navajo Nation. As a former high school mathematics/science teacher and university professor, Roni has now turned her attention to storytelling practices outside of traditional academia—including poetry making, traditional basket weaving, and other art forms—as a way to explore the human experience and share stories with others.
MARISSA LILA
DIRECTOR • PRODUCER • CINEMATOGRAPHER
MARISSA LILA is a documentarian who produces and directs film and television in Thai and English. Their work includes: Transmormon, which has garnered over 6 million online views and follows a Japanese-American trans woman and her devout Mormon parents (Artistic Vision award at the 2014 Big Sky Film Festival); Deep South Cancer Fighters focuses on advocates in rural Alabama who work to end racial health disparities in their community (Sidewalk Film Festival); and Scavenger, filmed in Marissa’s home country of Thailand, capturing the insights of a trash collector and his attempt to lift his family out of poverty (MountainFilm in Telluride). Marissa directed and produced episodes for the Regional Emmy-winning documentary series Generations Project (BYU-TV, ABC, and PBS). Additionally, they have worked in educational media, directing and producing documentary content to create more equity for students inclusive of race, class, language, sexual orientation, and/or disability.
