Without fire, there is no life. Firefighters, evacuees and Indigenous voices share their stories during wildfire season in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley.
Every summer, wildfires rage with increasing intensity across the globe, darkening skies and reducing entire communities to ash. Incandescence, a powerful documentary from award-winning filmmakers Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper (Metamorphosis), weaves together immersive footage and deeply personal accounts from Indigenous Elders, first responders and local evacuees in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. As climate change accelerates and suppression efforts falter, the film explores traditional Indigenous fire stewardship—controlled burns that regenerate the land and foster resilience. Drawing on nature’s own rhythms of destruction, renewal and rebirth, Incandescence reveals a transformative vision of fire not as an enemy, but as an ancient force essential to thriving life. With breathtaking cinematography and intimate storytelling, the film offers both a warning and a way forward, lighting a path of hope through the smoke.
Incandescence, Nova Ami & Velcrow Ripper, provided by the National Film Board of Canada