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Seven NFB-produced and co-produced films featured at Canada’s largest film festival north of 60°. World premieres for local creators David Hamelin, Melaina Sheldon and Jessica Hall at the Available Light Film Festival in Whitehorse.

PRESS RELEASE
15/01/2025

January 15, 2025 – Vancouver – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

The Available Light Film Festival in Whitehorse will feature two world premieres from Yukon creators as part of a selection of five powerful new works from the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

The Available Light Film Festival runs from February 7 to 16, 2025, in the territorial capital.

Festival goers will be treated to unique local stories by Whitehorse filmmakers, with David Hamelin and Melaina Sheldon’s Fireside Films/NFB-co-produced feature doc Northlore and Jessica Hall’s NFB short doc Saturday both screening publicly for the first time, with their directors in attendance.

The NFB lineup at ALFF also includes five more works from British Columbia and beyond.

From BC:

  • The feature documentary The Standby Burnaby-based filmmaker Christopher Auchter (Waat’sdaa);
  • The Intuitive Pictures/NFB-co-produced feature doc 7 Beats Per Minuteby Yuqi Kang, a Mongol Chinese Canadian filmmaker based in Vancouver;
  • Inkwo for When the Starving Return, a Spotted Fawn Productions/NFB stop-motion short by Sechelt, BC-based Michif/Métis creator Amanda Strong;
  • A special screening of the multi-award-winning 2004 documentary Being Caribou in honour of wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer and producer Tracey Friesen, whose deaths were keenly felt across the Canadian film community.

From Toronto:

  • Graeme Mathieson and Chris Flanagan’s short doc Johnny Osbourne from the anthology seriesSounds & Pressure: Reggae in a Foreign Land. This film will be presented along with Mathieson’s independent feature doc PLAY IT LOUD! How Toronto Got Soul.

Discover the NFB selection at ALFF

Two world premieres from Yukon filmmakers

Northlore by David Hamelin and Melaina Sheldon (54 min)
Produced by Melaina Sheldon and David Hamelin (Fireside Films) and Shirley Vercruysse (NFB), in association with CBC and Northwestel Community TV
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/northlore

  • Weaving animation and live action, Northlore explores the mystical stories and connections forged between the people and wildlife of Canada’s North. Though every person’s experience with nature is different, the film celebrates the transformation of the human spirit when confronted with the absolute power of the wilderness.
  • David Hamelin moved to the Yukon in 1993. He headed Northwestel Community TV’s video production for six years and most recently co-directed, co-wrote and edited the children’s web series Northern Tails. Born and raised in the Yukon Territory, Melaina Sheldon is an actor and writer of the Inland Lingít People. She made her comedic debut in 2023 at Indig-E girl Comedy’s Spring Showers, Aunty Flowers in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Saturday by Jessica Hall (13 min 9 s)
Produced by Teri Snelgrove for the NFB’s Western Documentary Unit in Vancouver
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/saturday

  • Katherine and her mother, Frances, spend every Saturday together. They go thrifting, peruse the hardware store and devote time to their shared hobby of building—and renovating—dollhouses. Saturdayis a tribute to filmmaker Jessica Hall’s sister and mother, chronicling their journey as Katherine navigates life with an intellectual disability. Shot in Whitehorse, the short documentary weaves in family movies of Katherine’s childhood, family gatherings and their immigration to Canada, celebrating her independent and creative life.
  • Award-winning documentary filmmaker, producer and editor Jessica Hall lives in Whitehorse. Her most recent film, Rob Is Analog, won the Audience Choice award for Best Canadian Documentary and Best Overall Canadian Film at the 2022 Available Light Film Festival.

Diverse stories from BC creators

The Stand by Christopher Auchter (94 min 33 s)
Produced by Shirley Vercruysse for the NFB’s Western Documentary Unit in Vancouver
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/the-stand

  • On a misty morning in the fall of 1985, a small group of Haida people blockaded a muddy dirt road on Lyell Island, demanding the government work with Indigenous people to find a way to protect the land and the future. Drawn from more than a hundred hours of archival footage and audio, The Stand recreates the critical moment when the Haida Nation’s resolute act of vision and conscience changed the world.

7 Beats Per Minute by Yuqi Kang (100 min)
Producers: Ina Fichman (Intuitive Pictures) and Sherien Barsoum (NFB)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/7beatsperminute

  • In the world of competitive freediving, Jessea Lu (Lu Wenjie) is a legendary figure. During a world-record attempt in 2018, Lu blacked out and was lifeless for four minutes. 7 Beats Per Minute captures the descent of a lifetime, when Jessea returns to the site of her near-death experience to face the traumas of her past and find a way back to connection.

Inkwo for When the Starving Return by Amanda Strong (18 min 27 s)
Producers: Amanda Strong (Spotted Fawn Productions), Maral Mohammadian (NFB), Nina Werewka (Spotted Fawn Productions)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/inkwo-for-when-the-starving-return

  • Two lifetimes from now the world hangs in the balance. Dove, a young warrior, receives and begins to understand the gifts and burdens of their Inkwo(medicine) in a call to action to fight and protect against the forces of greed and consumption. A stop-motion animated adaptation of the short story “Wheetago War” by award-winning Tlicho Dene storyteller Richard Van Camp.

Being Caribou by Leanne Allison and Diana Wilson (2004; 72 min)
Produced by Tracey Friesen for the NFB

  • The husband and wife team Karsten Heuer (wildlife biologist) and Leanne Allison (environmentalist) follow a herd of 120,000 caribou on foot across 1500 km of Arctic tundra, hoping to raise awareness of the threats to the caribou’s survival. Winner of 18 awards including Most Popular Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Plus, a musical portrait from Toronto

Johnny Osbourne from the series Sounds & Pressure: Reggae in a Foreign Land by Graeme Mathieson and Chris Flanagan (15 min)
Produced by Sherien Barsoum and Lea Marin for the NFB’s Central Documentary Unit in Toronto
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/sounds-pressure

  • Before gaining international recognition as the “Dancehall Godfather,” legendary singer Johnny Osbourne was at the forefront of a revolution that transformed Toronto into one of the most vibrant reggae communities in the world. Through rare archives and infectious beats, the five-part anthology series Sounds & Pressure explores how some of Jamaica’s brightest stars left their homeland behind to shine their light in an unlikely hub of Caribbean creativity: Toronto.

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French version here | Version française ici.

Media Relations

  • About the NFB

    Founded in 1939, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is a one-of-a-kind producer, co-producer and distributor of distinctive, engaging, relevant and innovative documentary and animated films. As a talent incubator, it is one of the world’s leading creative centres. The NFB has enabled Canadians to tell and hear each other’s stories for over eight decades, and its films are a reliable and accessible educational resource. The NFB is also recognized around the world for its expertise in preservation and conservation, and for its rich and vibrant collection of works, which form a pillar of Canada’s cultural heritage. To date, the NFB has produced more than 14,000 works, 6,500 of which can be streamed free of charge at nfb.ca. The NFB and its productions and co-productions have earned over 7,000 awards, including 11 Oscars and an Honorary Academy Award for overall excellence in cinema.