Boil Alert is a hybrid, border-crossing documentary featuring activist Layla Staats as our guide to the struggle of First Nations reserves to receive a basic human right — drinkable water.

In the film, Layla takes us on a journey through First Nations communities in order to raise awareness about the lack of access to lean water. While on this journey and through dramatic recreations of Staats’s life, we also learn of her personal struggles, her reconnecting with relatives and her Haudenosaunee roots. We then see her learning about the impacts of boil-water advisories, water toxicity, and environmental damage on Indigenous communities.

Boil Alert features communities in the Six Nations of The Grand River, Ontario; Neskantaga First Nations, Ontario; Church Rock, New Mexico; Grassy Narrows, Ontario and Wet’suwet’en, British Columbia areas to follow the water story.

There are many parts in the film that are impactful and poignant. From learning about the longest water boil-alert in Neskantaga First Nations, Canada to looking at the radiation meter climb past the point of safety in Navajo territory, Boil Alert sheds light on the direct human impact of the water crisis in Indigenous communities, as well as the impact it is having on Native/Indigenous identity.

While at TIFF, I spoke with co-directors of the film Stevie Salas and James Burns. Here is what they shared with me about their work and hopes for the film.