Gwich'in featured in film
Producers did work in Beaufort Delta with advice from Gwich'in Tribal Council
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, September 29, 2016
INUVIK
Some seven years in development, a movie set in the Beaufort Delta involving Gwich'in culture has finally been finished.
Actor Devery Jacobs plays a young girl who runs away from home and meets up with a Gwich'in hunter in The Sun At Midnight. - photo courtesy of Kirsten Carthew
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The Sun At Midnight is a fictional story about a friendship between a hunter who is obsessed with finding a caribou and a teenage rebel who moved North for the summer. The teenager, played by Devery Jacobs, steals a boat hoping to get to a larger community, but she gets lost and has the good fortune of meeting the hunter, played by Duane Howard.
Kirsten Carthew, co-owner of Jill and Jackfish Productions Inc. with Amos Scott, wrote the script in 2009.
From there, she took it to what used to be known as the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute, now called Gwich'in Tribal Council Department of Cultural Heritage, for review and feedback.
"They read it and they shared the script with a number of elders in Inuvik and Fort McPherson," said Carthew. "The feedback was really positive. It was very much that this felt like a Northern story and they didn't have too many issues with the story architecture."
They did have some useful advice to make the film more nuanced, though, including what traditional medicines ought to be used. Carthew, spending time in Fort McPherson and getting to know community members, also used with permission some of their own stories in the characters' stories to flesh out the authenticity of the film.
"It's been a very interactive process over a number of years," she said.
The intention for the film was always for it to be relevant cross-culturally, she added, including tourist audiences such as North Americans, Europeans and Asians.
"It's a small, universal story that resonate with people from around the world and the success of the film is having characters who are relatable," she said. "If you live in New York City, you might not think you can relate to a Gwich'in hunter who's looking for caribou, but some of his struggles are that he is lonely, and if you live in New York City you probably also experience loneliness. I think the internal journey of the characters is one that audiences around the world can relate to."
People used to city life might also enjoy the eye candy of the Beaufort Delta region in the fall, she added.
And although it took since 2009 to write it and fund the film, with money from Telefilm Canada, the GNWT and the Gwich'n Tribal Council, it was all shot in five weeks this fall.
"I was adamant as the director that I wanted to shoot up in the Beaufort Delta area off the Dempster," said Carthew. "I really wanted the fall colours."
It felt rushed and she wondered at first if there was enough content filmed to make a whole movie, but it ended up at a perfect 93 minutes after editing.
Carthew recruited a local cast and crew and then hired nationally for the two lead roles.
"The two leads are really fantastic and they carry most of the story," said Carthew.
"I'm happy with the end product and I'm happy to be able to share it. I know we worked really hard and we made a really great film."
The film was screened in Fort McPherson on Sept. 25. Now it is Carthew's job to showcase it at film festivals and try to attract a broadcaster to purchase it.
"I would hope in the next six to 12 months we would be able to sell the film and then it would be available online and through DVD," said Carthew.
She hopes filmmakers become inspired to make more movies in this territory.
"This is the first feature film to ever be shot in the Gwich'in territory and feature Gwich'in people and land and values, and I hope that Gwich'in enjoy it and feel proud of it," she said.
