April 11, 2008
Nunavut filmmakers ponder circumpolar links
“People in Nunavut have a lot of talent and creativity and that is not always recognized just in Canada.”
Nunavut filmmakers should unite with their circumpolar counterparts to create larger audiences for one another's work, says filmmaker John Houston.
Houston, the man behind Drumsong Communications and the president of the Ajjiit Nunavut Media Association, made the suggestion during a roundtable discussion held April 2 in Iqaluit as part Nunavut film industry symposium.
Houston said reliance on southern Canadian broadcasters to produce films sometimes means that projects never get off the ground. Instead, filmmakers in Nunavut should look to other northern producers for support and larger audiences.
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"People in Nunavut have a lot of talent and creativity and that is not always recognized just in Canada," Houston said.
To capitalize on foreign interest in Nunavut films, Houston said Nunavut producers should look at forming a circumpolar film association with filmmakers in Scandinavia, Greenland, Iceland and Alaska.
He pointed to a recent trip by Ajjiit members to a pair of film festivals in Copenhagen, Denmark and Tromso, Norway.
Debbie Brisebois, executive director of the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, agreed, saying KNR, Greenland's public broadcaster, is interested in showing Nunavut films.
Saami filmmakers from Norway, and Icelandic producers are also interested in making co-produced films in Nunavut.
"Turns out we were meeting people who were pretty interested in what's going on up here," Houston said.
Houston said Canada should now pony up some money to help found a circumpolar film association, because it's expensive for northern producers to get together in person. From there, members could work to sort out the travel, visa and union issues that make it harder for European filmmakers to do business in Canada, and vice versa.
And Houston said he was stunned to learn that Greenlandic producers are treated like foreigners by the Danish government body that funds film projects and must wait in line for money behind filmmakers from mainland Denmark.
"It's the same as if you came from Australia or Iraq," he said.
At the Tromso film festival, which includes a showcase on northern films, Nunavut productions got an enthusiastic reception, Houston said. Repaying that hospitality is one reason why Nunavut needs its own film festival. The other is to showcase homegrown work.
Henry Naulaq, an IBC producer, embraced the notion of closer ties to the circumpolar film world.
"I'd be very interested in sharing our culture with them," he said.
