‘Mother Earth, she’s a mother to all of us…’

Katharina Stieffenhofer’s latest documentary film, Everything We Need is Here, is a love poem to the Earth — woven from themes of nature, connection, and resistance.

With stunning imagery and multi-layered stories, it explores trauma, resilience, and ecological justice in a meditation on how human well-being is inseparable from the health of the land. It is ultimately a hopeful story of healing — one woman’s recovery intertwined with a community’s determination to defend the forests that sustain them.

“We need intact nature, trees and forests, not just for our well-being, but for our survival,” said Stieffenhofer, an East Fort Garry resident. “If we connect with nature and with each other, we are more likely to protect everything we need that is already here. I am also hoping to deepen the understanding of the impacts of resource extraction on our Indigenous communities — 100 per cent of critical minerals in Northern Manitoba are located on Indigenous ancestral lands.”

The official premiere of Everything We Need is Here was held last month at the Park Theatre. The Feast for the Senses event featured food catered by chef Ben Kramer, an opening prayer drum song by Marcel Hardisty and Terrance Bruce, musical performances by Métis fiddler Gilles Crevier and his washboard-playing daughter Sara, and musical improvisation by Keri Latimer/ÓFukami accompanied by her theremin and her houseplant.