Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (July 17/02) - Snow Walker may tell an Inuit legend but it's beginning to sound more like a character out of ancient Egyptian mythology.

Like the phoenix, a trip to Rankin for the Inuktitut-language feature film keeps rising out of the ashes of burned deals.

Twice film producer John Houston has smiled with the promise of feathering the hamlet with money. And twice the deal has died.

Last week, however, Houston was back in town trying to drum up support again to bring his cameras and pocketbook to Rankin, this time for three weeks in mid-August.

He was peddling a deal which would see various organizations in the community cough up $250,000 in flat funding and training dollars.

In exchange, Houston said he is pledging to spend a minimum of $800,000 when he comes to town.

"We want to come here. I've been trying to come here since January 5 and I'm a fairly bullheaded individual, fortunately," said the producer, who was born in Cape Dorset and speaks fluent Inuktitut.

Houston is asking for $100,000 from the department of sustainable development, $25,000 from the hamlet of Rankin Inlet, $75,000 from the Kivalliq Inuit Association, and $50,000 in training dollars from Kivalliq Partners.

Houston won't hear back from the various parties for at least a few days.

However, Rankin senior administrator Ron Roach said he was "99 per cent confident" that this time a deal will come together.

Major crash sequences

The movie, with a budget of $8.5 million, is based on the Farley Mowat book.

The film is being funded by a smattering of government sources, like Telefilm Canada, said Houston.

He wants to film the major sequences in the movie near Rankin, including an airplane crash and scenes camping around the wrecked plane.

The question of where to film parts of Snow Walker has become a flashpoint in a debate about the government of Nunavut's commitment to filmmaking in this territory.

The last deal Houston had worked out called for $300,000 from the community for two weeks of filming. But the hamlet council said no to that proposition, arguing it wouldn't allow Houston enough time in town.

Following that failure, Houston said he would take all of the filming to Churchill, Man.

The announcement provoked finger-pointing at the government of Nunavut from all over the territory.

Tax credits in other areas

In virtually every other jurisdiction in Canada, filmmakers are given enormous tax credits and labour rebate when they film inside a province or territory using local talent.

Nunavut has no such policy, forcing would-be filmmakers to cobble together territorial money from various departments like education or sustainable development.

For the rest of the money, they cling to what federal funds they can secure.

Not only is the lack of a policy making it difficult for outside agencies to film in Nunavut, it means stifled opportunities for local talent, said Rankin's Natsiq Productions co-owner Tracy Wallace.

Having an incentive policy would mean "that we could get into production mode more often, rather than relying on awards or programs currently provided by Telefilm or the National Film Board or other federally-funded programs," she said.

But Houston said he is not disappointed at the hoops he has had to jump through.

"It's important to remember that it's the early stages, we're trying to get an industry started," he said, Houston added that it took him a few years to understand a film budget and film schedule.

That knowledge can't be attained overnight, he said.

Norman Cohn, secretary-treasurer for Igloolik Isuma Productions, agreed.

"In Nunavut you're not talking to people who know anything about filmmaking," he said.

"You're a snake oil salesman. John (Houston) is running around talking about things no one knows anything about.

"Promising things no one knows whether he's going to deliver."