Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
14 Tuesday June 23 2015 ARTS CULTURE FILM By DALI CARMICHAEL For the last ve years NWT lmmaker Kirsten Carthew has been working to get her Northern passion project off the ground a goal that is now in reach thanks to funding from Telelm Canada. Early last week Carthew and co-producer Amos Scott who form the Jill Jacksh Pro- ductions company received word from the Canadian national lm funding body that they were nalists for the organizations mi- cro-budget production program. Its been a project that I keep returning to Carthew said. A few years ago in 2012 we thought we would be able to make it but the funding structure and the lm funding infrastructure in the NWT wasnt really in place to support it. Even then the Telelm micro-budget production program also didnt exist. Several years later all that has changed. The funds from the Telelm program which are dedicated to up-and-coming lmmak- ers creating their rst feature-length lm are set to cover 120000 - about half of the lms budget. The lm was nominated as a candidate for the program by Western Arc- tic Moving Pictures. Another large portion of the projects - nancing will be covered by the department of Industry Tourism and Investments pilot rebate program which was created earlier this year to encourage on-location lming in the NWT. The team is now just 30000 shy of their nancing goal an amount they hope to source from a Northern donor. NWT lmmakers get funding to shoot rst feature The Sun at Midnight casting for mostly indigenous actors from the North By the North in the North for the North The lm called The Sun at Midnight tells the story of Leah a troubled teenage girl liv- ing in Montreal who is sent to live with her es- tranged grandmother in Fort McPherson. Un- accustomedtoNorthernlifeLeahisdesperate to escape and sets off on her own by boat in an attempt to get back to the city facing the dan- gersoftheNorthonherownuntilsherunsinto an elder named Alfred on the land. Its a story thats inspired by my own life experiences and growing up in the NWT Carthew said. Its the relationship between a young woman whos trying to discover who she is who starts to relate to herself in new ways because of her relationship with this elder and the land and nature. For me thats always been a big part of my life relating to the external world through nature and being able to analyze and improve myself in bet- ter ways. Knowing she wanted to write a story that wasasauthenticaspossibleCarthewwasdili- gent in working with the Gwichin Social and Cultural Institute as she ne-tuned the script. Ireallyfellinlovewiththelandscapeinthe BeaufortDeltaandthatswhereIwantedtoset the story and it made sense to me to reach out totheGwichinbecausethatsintheirterritory Carthewsaid.Theyreaditandtheyhadsome elders read it and they really liked the story - they had good notes. Its been a very positive relationship. It is really a Northern story and I think thatsonereasonIwasattractedtotheproject Scott said. What makes our industry grow is to have a homegrown Northern story being written and directed and made in the North. With the project nally a reality Scott and Carthew are ready to get down to work. We have a pretty ambitious timeline here Scott said. Were trying to lm it in August through September and we still need to cast the movie so theres a handful of things hap- pening at once. Inprotectingtheauthenticityofthestorythe duoarelookingtohireamostlyindigenouscast. This is not a Hollywood blockbuster lm. Itsfairlynicheandwereallythinkthattheau- dience for this lm will be drawn to it because of its authenticity and because of the theme of survival and the setting and the landscape of the North Carthew said. I think its really important for the story and for the audience that it feel authentic. It wouldnt be appropri- ate to have non-indigenous cast in the roles. However they are encouraging people from all ethnicities to try out for the lm as an exercise in building a catalogue of actors and production people in the North. You never know what you might uncover duringtheauditioningprocessCarthewsaid. For more information on the lm and the casting process head to httpwww.jilland- jacksh.com PhotocourtesyofJillandJackshProductions The Sun at Midnight tells the story of Leah a troubled girl from Montreal who is sent to live with her grandmother in Fort McPherson. Filming for the production is set to run from August through September.