Courtesy Photo The main character in “One with the Whale” is seen in this photo. The free movie will be showing at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena.

ALPENA — A free award-winning movie called “One with the Whale” will be showing at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, 500 W. Fletcher St., Alpena. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

“Hunting whales is a matter of life or death for the residents of St. Lawrence,” a press release explains. “When a shy Alaska Native teen becomes the youngest person ever to harpoon a whale for his village, his family is blindsided by thousands of keyboard activists brutally attacking him online — without full perspective on the importance of the hunt to his community’s well-being.”

This indigenous story of resistance has been featured at many film festivals worldwide, but this is the first time it will be playing in Alpena.

“It’s a a great documentary about a young man in a very small, remote Alaskan town,” said Stephanie Gandulla, resource protection coordinator for Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. “In this town, they still engage in whaling. And he is celebrated because he is the youngest person ever to harpoon a whale for his village … But then, his family is blindsided by thousands of people around the world, on social media, who are attacking him for killing the whale.”

She said it’s a great film that Northeast Michiganders should be able to relate to and appreciate.

“This community has similarities to our community here in Northeast Michigan that has a thriving hunting culture,” Gandulla said. “It’ll be a neat film for people to see.”

She added the film also addresses mental health issues for young people and food security issues.

“This community needs to have whaling be a part of their culture so they can have enough food to eat,” Gandulla said.

She added that the film is based on a true story. The run time is one hour, 18 minutes.

“‘One with the Whale’ is a heartfelt, thought-provoking film,” stated a former Economist film critic. “It shows that the biggest issue we face as humans today is not really climate change itself, but rather how we respond to the challenge it is presenting us with: Can we fix the climate emergency by simply creating more conflict, polarization, misunderstanding, and hatred? Or should we instead dare move out of our comfort zones, to create connections, understanding, and resilience across cultural boundaries for a common cause?”

Peter Chelkowski, one of the producers and one of the directors of “One with the Whale,” said the film was first released on PBS this past spring.

He and co-director Jim Wickens faced and overcame many obstacles to bring this film to viewers.

Wickens started the first environmental detective agency, Chelkowski said.

“We work together, undercover, uncovering crimes against the planet, against society, against people,” Chelkowski said. “There is an excessive amount of racism in environmental space, and we decided we wanted to tackle that, somehow.”

He explained that the tiny island where this film takes place is actually closer to Siberia than the Alaska mainland.

“You can actually see the Siberian mountains from the island,” Chelkowski said.

He noted the importance of doing this film.

“They had just gotten internet, so they were super stoked,” Chelkowski said of the villagers. “And they spread the word to all the villages, celebrating, but, at the same time, Paul Watson and his acolytes got wind of this, and they started sending him thousands and thousands of death threats and hate messages. They were attacking a 16-year-old kid, a child, who lives on an island that has the highest rate of suicide, probably in the world. Really atrocious.”

Chelkowski and Wickens reached out to the young man and his family, and they agreed to do the film.

“Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, is probably the most remote place in the United States,” Chelkowski said. “One of the hardest places to get to. It takes, like, four or five planes to get there. Weather is always an issue. You can get stuck there for weeks. You can not make it there. It costs thousands and thousands of dollars to get there.”

He said it took a lot of hard work and coordination to complete this film, but the end product was worth every minute.

“For us to be able to film in Gambell, not only did we have to get permission from the family, but we had to get permission from the village, from the tribe, from everybody there,” Chelkowski said. “So, from the very start, this is a communal film, made by a community, together. They didn’t have the skillsets, or the cameras, to tell the story. We brought that. They brought their history and their knowledge, and together, we made a beautiful film … It is not a film made about them. It is a film made with them.”

Gandulla added another reason the film is showing on Wednesday.

“One of the reasons we chose to screen ‘One with the Whale’ in November is to honor Native American Heritage Month,” Gandulla said.

National Native American Heritage Month is celebrated annually in November to recognize the history, culture, and contributions of Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and island communities.

“The sanctuary is always excited to provide a variety of cultural events and experiences, for free, to the community,” Gandulla said. “We’d love to see some young people come out to this, because it’s about young people.”

Reach Darby Hinkley at dhinkley@thealpenanews.com, or call 989-358-5691.