June 14, 2022
Just as Polaris is the guiding star in the northern sky, it is now also the leading film in the Fantasia International Film Festival.
Northwest Territory director K.C. Carthew’s new film Polaris has the honour of opening the 26th year of the Montreal-based festival that has been described as “the most outstanding and largest genre film festival in North America” and has featured such high-profile films as Suicide Squad, Shaun of the Dead, and Ringu, to name a few.
This filmed-in-the-North production featuring an all-female cast (including a polar bear) tells an original fantasy story of how the Little Dipper finds her home in the sky. Born of the same world as the 2015 Dead North Film Festival short Fish Out of Water, Polaris is Carthew’s second feature-length film as writer/director. Her first feature, The Sun at Midnight, filmed near Fort McPherson, won several awards and acclaim at festivals worldwide.
Thanks to funding from NWT Film Commission and with the help of the NWT Professional Media Association’s NWT Apprenticeship Program, Polaris presented an extraordinary opportunity for NWT crew to work on a feature film and gain valuable skills and experience. (The NWTPMA’s Apprenticeship program exists to provide film professionals with an opportunity to access special funding to be used for on-the-job placements.)
NWT Filmmakers may qualify for financial support to attend festivals where their work is being shown. Learn more about how the GNWT supports the local film industry.