October 2, 2026 – Toronto – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Two new National Film Board of Canada (NFB) films exploring powerful environmental themes will screen at the Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival in Toronto, taking place October 20–25, 2026, at the Paradise Theatre.

In its world premiere screening at the festival, Karl Lemieux’s experimental short film Platforms bears witness to the last days of oil and gas platforms as they are dismantled.

Making its Toronto premiere, Malaya Qaunirq Chapman’s Nirilaurta: Let Us Eat follows a Nunavut community drawing on Inuit culture and each other to strengthen bonds and feed their families.

Platforms by Karl Lemieux (20 min 46 s) | WORLD PREMIERE
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/platforms

• Some 12,000 oil and gas platforms remain at sea. What happens when one reaches the end of its life? In an experimental audiovisual journey to the shores of Scotland, acclaimed filmmaker Karl Lemieux documents the painstaking process of dismantling these industrial behemoths. Metal creaks, excavators crunch and workers weld against desolate landscapes, captured on 16-mm film manipulated with photochemical processes, and amplified by Swedish artist BJ Nilsen’s haunting sonic landscape. The result is a ritual that seems both alien and undeniably Earthbound.
• Born in Kingsey Falls, Quebec, Karl Lemieux is an experimental filmmaker and co-founder of the Double Negative Collective. His films include the award-winning NFB productions Mamori (2010) and Quiet Zone (2015), which he co-directed with David Bryant. He has also given numerous live cinema performances with avant-garde musicians and has performed with the band Godspeed You! Black Emperor since 2010.

Nirilaurta: Let Us Eat by Malaya Qaunirq Chapman (52 min 10 s) | Toronto premiere
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/nirilaurta

• On the edge of the Arctic Ocean, the Inuit community of Taloyoak, Nunavut, is fighting to feed its families. Soaring prices at the grocery store and the prohibitive costs of hunting and travel within the North force many homes to go hungry. Harvesting traditional foods from the land is central to Inuit culture and has kept families fed for countless generations. Nirilaurta tells the story of a community that draws on culture, land-based knowledge and kinship to nourish their bodies, spirits and one another.
• Malaya Qaunirq Chapman is an Inuit actor, producer and emerging director from Iqaluit. She starred in Restless River (2019) and Aviliaq: Entwined (2014) and served as executive producer on Heaven’s Floor (2016), inspired by her own life. From early roles on the comedy show Qanurli to hosting acclaimed series and, most recently, her role as Auntie Eva on the hit TV show North of North, Chapman brings Northern voices to the screen with authenticity and passion. Nirilaurta is her first documentary.

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Press release – PDF here.

Version française ici.