October 1, 2018
(Photo by Angela Gzowski)
Minister Schumann took part in the Yellowknife Film Festival Gala, hosted on September 29, and spoke about the recent success of the territory's film industry and announced an exciting new apprenticeship program. Read the full remarks below.
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It’s great to be here this evening to celebrate the 12th annual Yellowknife International Film Festival and a successful year for our film industry.
First off, congratulations to Jen Walden and Jeremy Emerson on the premiere of their film Elijah and the Rock Creature which kicked off this year’s festival, as well as to all of the other filmmakers who had their work screened over the last few days.
From silver-screen productions and red carpet events, to film festival premieres and international brand commercials, the territory’s film industry is thriving.
That is thanks to all of you here tonight. Your creativity, hard work and tenacity have shaped where we are today.
Looking back on the last year alone is impressive.
When They Awake and End of the Ice Age were screened at the NorthwestFest International Documentary Festival in Edmonton and Keith Robertson’s short film Bait made it into the CBC Short Film Face Off.
I had the privilege of being on the set of Red Snow with writer and director Marie Clements while the team filmed in Dettah and look forward to seeing the feature-length film once it comes out.
River of Forgiveness was filmed in some of the most iconic and stunning locations in the Dehcho, sharing the story of paddling a hand-crafted mooseskin canoe down the Nahanni River.
We welcomed Chevrolet, Volkswagen and Mercedes to the NWT – evidence that the NWT is becoming a hot-spot for major commercials and demonstrates the diversity of the productions emerging in the territory.
We introduced the Film Commission’s first award for Best NWT Location at the Dead North Film Festival.
The list of success stories goes on and on, so thank you to everyone here tonight for making this possible.
At the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, we’re well aware of the important role that our local film industry plays. Since the launch of our Film Rebate Program in 2015, we have provided roughly $280,000 in funding to 8 film projects, which resulted in an economic impact of $1.8M in addition to creating more opportunities for our film industry to work on sets.
In the last year alone, we also provided over $300,000 in SEED funding for individual film initiatives and projects.
We know that this industry is gaining momentum and tonight, I’m pleased to announce that new support will be available.
For the first time, the NWT will have a Film Apprenticeship Program.
This pilot program is designed to help our local film workforce gain on-the-job experience with major productions. We want to build a sustainable film industry for the territory which means getting that hands-on experience on large scale productions that are popping up both in the NWT and in other parts of the country.
It’s the sort of experience that cannot be replicated online, in a classroom or on a small-budget indie film set. Successful applicants would be working within their field in departments such as sound, camera, producing, or directing.
I’d like to thank the Professional Media Association for coming up with the program idea and taking charge of its delivery. ITI’s Film Commission and Education, Culture and Employment are pleased to provide funding for.
It will be piloted for 2018-19 and accepting up to four candidates. More information will be available on the PMA website in the coming weeks so be sure to check it out and learn more.
I know we have some exciting new awards to get to so I’ll leave it at that but once again, thank you for your long days, your grit and determination; these elements have been foundational to building this industry in the North.
Enjoy the rest of the evening.