“We destroyed their past but you’re destroying their future,” an oil exec is told in the trailer for Rebecca and Josh Tickell’s “On Sacred Ground,” a narrative feature that revisits the controversial construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pic inspired by true events that transpired on reservation lands in 2016.

“On Sacred Ground” follows journalist and military vet Daniel (William Mapother, “Save Me”) and his employer, Elliot (David Arquette, “Scream”), a bigwig at the oil company that commissioned him to write about them in a positive light. The two find themselves on opposing factions of the DAPL dispute, going “down separate paths during one of the most heated protests and confrontations with Native American tribes in modern US history,” the film’s synopsis details.

The trailer sees Daniel moving away from home to write a “no-BS” profile on the contentious pipeline, which is garnering media attention amid protests by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. He insists that he was hired to unearth the truth, which is met with skepticism by members of the Sioux Nation. “Are you here to redeem yourself or make money for somebody else?” the journalist is asked in the trailer.

The Sioux Nation is seen galvanizing against the unlawful use of its land, as the construction of the DAPL would violate the 1866 Treaty of Fort Laramie. Examining a map of the Sioux Treaty Lands, Daniel is told that “everything you see there legally belongs to the Sioux Nation.” 

The more Daniel discovers about the pipeline’s construction, the more he finds himself at odds with the oil tycoons he has been working with. “You moved the pipeline right to the mouth of the reservation – it’s the only water source,” he tells Elliot. 

“On Sacred Ground” was penned by Rebecca and Josh Tickell with Mapother.

Rebecca and Josh Tickell are also documentary filmmakers. Their latest doc, “The Revolution Generation,” a tribute to youth activists, was released last year. 

“On Sacred Ground” premieres in theaters and on VOD January 13.