Daron Letts
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (June 27/05) - The clock is ticking. Nunavut's most celebrated Inuit filmmakers may pack up their gear and head to northern Quebec to shoot their next film if they don't achieve a funding agreement from the Nunavut government soon.

Igloolik Isuma Productions will shoot its third feature film, Before Tomorrow, in the summer of 2006.

Secretary treasurer and Isuma co-founder Norm Cohn said that to keep on schedule, financing must be in place within the next three to six months.

He said about $1 million of the film's budget, about 25-30 per cent, is accounted for through pre-approved funds from Telefilm Canada and other sources.

The rest of the money is not in hand, but Cohn said he knows where the company can pursue it.

That leaves about 10 per cent of the financing that will come from the government of whichever Inuit region Isuma films in.

"We are a community-based film company and if our community is not participating financially then we cannot run a company that's based in that community," Cohn said. "Nunavut can't generate employment for people in the film industry if Nunavut does not participate in the financing package of any project."

Isuma is 75 per cent Inuit owned. The 15-year-old company operates offices in Iglulik and Montreal.

Isuma's first feature, the internationally acclaimed Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, was funded by the NWT government. Isuma received 17 grants from the territory equalling about 10 per cent of the 2001 film's $1.9 million budget.

Isuma is now editing its second feature, which wrapped shooting in Iglulik this spring.

During filming, Isuma spent $1.2 million in wages and another $500,000 in other expenses in the territory The Nunavut Film Commission contributed $200,000 of the $6.3 million project - or about three per cent. Isuma employed up to 100 people during the filming - mostly community members from Iglulik.

"We're shrinking in Nunavut, that's for sure," Cohn said.

Northern Quebec has the Inuit population and topography Isuma needs for its films and it also offers more support for filmmakers, Cohn said.

"Quebec has a very active cultural policy because Quebec understands that in order to operate a distinct and economically self-sufficient region you need to drive that with strong cultural policies that support the cultural industries," he said.

Nunavut Film Commissioner Sheila Pokiak said her office started amending the territory's two-year-old film policy in May to address "several outdated provisions and inconsistencies."

She is waiting to publicly identify the specific amendments and the programs that will be offered.

"We're in an internal negotiation and consultative process and I haven't finalized my comments to the current policy," she said.

The commission will have $475,000 available to allocate to film projects after the policy is amended.

"We'll hopefully be able to announce the policy changes by the end of June," she said.

"Hopefully it won't be too late for Isuma to apply in this current year."

The Nunavut Film Commission operates under the Department of Economic Development and Transportation.

Its office opened in January, but the film policy has existed since 2003.

The office has an annual operating budget of $175,00.

In its first year, the Nunavut government oversaw seven equity investments with Nunavut producers worth $500,000.

The allotments ranged from under $11,000 to the $200,000 investment in Isuma's second film.

- Next week, aboriginal film

funding in Nunavut.