Catch a news story from the North, and it’s likely to be a sad one: Forgotten indigenous women, a crisis of teenage suicides…
But in Nunavut, different stories are being told: A Los Angeles photographer saved by an Inuit girl; A sled dog puppy destined for great things; A man and a woman fighting for their love in the cold, cold North. With names like Heaven’s Floor, Qummiruluapik, and Two Lovers and a Bear, these stories are films produced in Nunavut by local filmmakers and crew – and they would have been impossible without funding from the Nunavut Film Development Corporation.
Backed by the Nunavut Government, Nunavut Film offers a financial leg-up to practitioners at every level of the industry, from the curious youngsters just starting out, to the production houses whose films screen at the Cannes film festival.
Funding doesn’t necessarily have to be for a film production. Many programs, such as the Industry Training and Development Fund, gives artists the opportunity to train and hone their skills.
“I wanted to apply because I’m a recording engineer, and being one of the only guys up here doing it full time, I do it in isolation,” says Chris Coleman. “I used it as an opportunity to spend a few days in a real sound mix studio, so I could and learn and observe from real people who do it everyday.”
With a small grant from Nunavut Film, he flew down to Toronto to work with people and equipment he otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
“The assistance I got makes all the difference, because it’s so expensive to fly out of here,” says Coleman.
The Spend Incentive is where the big money is. It gives percentage rebates to productions whose companies are partly Nunavut-owned.
Cash rebates to productions vary in size, with funds awarded from $25,000 to over $350,000. With the growing scene, so has the funding grown. The amount awarded through the program in 2015 was double that of 2011. Two Lovers and a Bear was a recipient last year. It’d later be shown at the Cannes film festival, the most prestigious in the world.
Julia Ain Burns, project manager with Nunavut Film, has noticed the growth as well: the number of applications is up, and so is the level of ambition.
“The trend we’re seeing is that the scope of the projects are getting bigger,” says Burns. “The projects are getting large and there are more requests.”
More than just a helping hand to the arts community in Nunavut, there’s a benefit to the economy’s bottom line. In 2015, for every dollar awarded in grants and rebates, over six were spent by film production companies in the province.
But even at the grassroots level, Coleman says the fund is crucial to keeping the industry alive.
“A lot of the projects are smaller, but the funding they’ve gotten has been critical,” says Coleman. “They could’ve not have been made without Nunavut Film.”