Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (June 24/02) - Rankin Inlet has lost its bid to convince John Huston to shoot his next film in the Kivalliq.

Huston travelled to Rankin earlier this month to pitch the benefits of having the movie, based on the book Snow Walker by Canadian author Farley Mowat, shot in the Kivalliq. He spoke to a special hamlet council meeting attended by numerous interested parties.

During that meeting, Huston estimated about $1.5 million would be spent by the production team in Nunavut during the making of the film.

The hamlet, several Inuit organizations and government departments raised about $300,000 in incentives to bring the film crew to Rankin.

That fell far short of the more than $750,000 in incentives the province of Manitoba was offering to have the film shot in Churchill, Man.

Huston did make one final offer to shoot two of the scheduled six weeks of filming in Rankin for the money raised in Nunavut.

However, Rankin Inlet Deputy Mayor Lavinia Brown said that just wasn't a sweet enough deal to bring the film crew to the Kivalliq.

"Personally, I felt either we get the whole movie or we take nothing," said Brown.

"It didn't feel right getting the short end of the stick. Having the crew here for the full six weeks provided some good economic benefits to the region, but I didn't feel the same way about only two weeks."

The selection of Churchill is widely seen as a missed economic opportunity for the region.

Brown said it's time for Nunavut to develop an incentive policy to attract filmmakers to the territory.

She said having a policy in place would prevent communities from having to accomplish so much in such a short period of time to capitalize on opportunities.

"The hamlet and all the different parties involved collaborated together and came up with the money we were able to offer," she added.

"The fact so many people worked together and showed so much initiative was a real positive step for us. That's why I so deeply regret losing out on the movie."