Author: Scott Clouthier

Scott Clouthier is a filmmaker, editor and colourist based in Hay River, NWT. He is a former Vice President and Executive Director of the NWTPMA.
Three Feathers: The Movie

Three Feathers named best short at CIFF

Three Feathers, a short film directed by Carla Ulrich and filmed in and around Fort Smith, NWT, won Best Picture (Short Program) at the Canadian Faith & Family Film Festival in Toronto.

Based on a story by indigenous author Richard Van Camp, the film was produced by the South Slave District Educational Board as a language. The story was ambitiously adapted in four languages: English, Chipewyan, South Slavey and Bush Cree, with all dialogue scenes being recorded four times – once in each language/dialect.

Three Feathers is also set to screen at the Vancouver International Film Festival this weekend (Sept 29 & 30).

Minister highlights growth of film industry in speech to NWT legislature

NWT Minister of Industry, Tourism & Investment (ITI), Wally Schumann, made note of the recent accomplishments of our territory’s film industry in a Minister’s Statement delivered to the NWT Legislative Assembly on Monday.

Schumann, who as ITI minister oversees the NWT Film Commission, noted the feature film Elijah and the Rock Creature, as well as documentaries I Hold The Dehcho In My Heart and Revolution Moosehide as recent success stories.

The minister also gave credit to the NWTPMA for its work in helping grow a sustainable film economy in the NWT, and spoke about the newly-announced Film Apprenticeship Pilot program—which is being jointly delivered by both the Government of the Northwest Territories and the NWTPMA.

Continue reading →

YK Film Fest returns for 12th edition

The 12th annual Yellowknife International Film Festival (YKIFF) is set to take place from September 26-30, 2018 in NWT’s capital city.

A flagship event for the NWT film community, YKIFF presents a program of the best NWT-produced films as well as those from the circumpolar world along with a handpicked selection of international works.

Though an official program for 2018 has yet to be released, it is anticipated the NWT-produced feature film Elijah and the Rock Creature, written and directed by Jen Walden, will make its premiere.

The festival will also include a program of free filmmaking workshops as well as a gala reception hosted by the NWT Film Commission.

For more information on the Yellowknife International Film Festival, visit: www.ykfilmfest.com.

Remembering: Versus Ivan

A reclusive web-programmer is forced to confront the threatening concept of change when the food packages he receives in the mail each day mysteriously stop arriving.

Fourteen years ago, a film school graduate and his friends turned this unique elevator pitch into Versus Ivan, the first feature film to be produced in the NWT.

In a year when Kirsten Carthew’s landmark film The Sun at Midnight is still criss-crossing the globe and Jen Walden’s debut feature Elijah and the Rock Creature, is mere months away from release, we thought it would be good to look back upon the plucky beginnings of feature filmmaking in our territory.

Continue reading →

Monterey Media snaps up U.S. rights to The Sun at Midnight

Film to hit American theatres this fall

It’s been less than a week since The Sun at Midnight‘s producers announced the film was set for a theatrical run in Australia. Then, late yesterday, came the news that its US rights have been purchased by distributor Monterey Media and plans are underway for the film’s theatrical debut south of the border.

In a Facebook post yesterday afternoon, director Kirsten Carthew shared a link to an article published by Variety magazine which includes a section about the acquisition. The article states Monterey Media has purchased all rights to the film in the US (which—presumably—includes theatrical, non-theatrical, digital and home video distribution). It also states Monterey is planning to launch the film in US theatres this September and October.

The Sun at Midnight is the first NWT-produced feature film to receive Telefilm funding. It was directed by Carthew and produced by Carthew and Amos Scott. It stars Devery Jacobs (who just announced she is joining the cast of the Starz series ‘American Gods’) and Duane Howard (The Revenant).

For more info on the film, visit www.thesunatmidnightmovie.com.

The Sun at Midnight getting theatrical run Down Under

Director Kirsten Carthew’s The Sun at Midnight, the first Telefilm-supported feature film to be produced in the Northwest Territories, will be shown on theatre screens in Australia this July, according to a media release issued today by its producers.

“The film has screened at over 50 festivals and traveled around the world, winning awards in the USA and Canada and traveling the world to screenings in India, China, Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Algeria,” reads the release.

Continue reading →

Yellowknife short film tapped to face off on CBC

This year’s edition of CBC’s Short Film Face-Off will feature a film produced in the NWT.

BAIT! from director Keith Robertson, has been selected to represent the northern territories as one of nine finalists in this year’s competition.

Each episode in the TV series features three short films which are screened and then critiqued in person by panelists from Canada’s film and media industry. Once a final three films are selected, the overall winner is then chosen by viewers.

The winning filmmaker receives a prize to use towards the creation of their next short film, which will be licenced for broadcast by the CBC.

Continue reading →

Aarigaa: Meet the NWT’s newest film festival

“Inuvik is overdue for a film festival, and why wait any longer?”

This statement was written in the first Facebook post made by organizers of Inuvik’s newly-minted Aarigaa Film Festival on their official page.

Set to take place on July 20 & 21, the inaugural edition of the NWT town’s first very-own film fest (a production of Inuvialuit Communications Society) has been a long time coming, said Festival Director, ICS manager and local filmmaker Dez Loreen.

“The festival was started because our community has been lacking a film presence. We have a handful of local people from the region who are making films and shorts, but we never had a stage to showcase them,” he said.

Continue reading →

Dead North hits the road

Dead North Film Festival kicked off its 2018 Road Tour with a stop at the Riverview Cineplex in Hay River over the weekend.

Nearly 100 rabid horror fans took in all 48 films from this year’s festival over the course of two late evening screenings. Making the trip from Yellowknife to co-host the event were Dead North founders and board members Jay Bulckaert and Pablo Saravanja (aka Artless Collective).

Continue reading →