In the spring of 2016, raging wildfires forced Mucharata Minog and 88,000 others to evacuate their homes in Fort McMurray, a remote northern city located at the centre of Canada’s oil sands region—home to the planet’s third-largest oil reserves. Apocalyptic images of cars fleeing the burning city were seen around the world.
In Ash & Oil: Fort McMurray After the Fire, director Julia Ivanova takes stock of life in “Fort Mac” as Mucharata—a former nanny who drives a two-ton truck on a nearby oil sands site—and other residents slowly make their way back to devastated homes and neighbourhoods and reconsider their futures.
Ash & Oil is Ivanova’s second film about Fort Mac. Her NFB feature documentary, Limit Is the Sky, follows young strivers and dreamers drawn to the northern Alberta city by the region’s once-booming oil and gas sector and will be released this fall.
Ash & Oil is the first collaboration between the NFB and The Guardian’s platform for short international documentary stories.
Link to blog:
Fort Mac Dreamin’
Directed by
Julia Ivanova
Editors
Ileana Pietrobruno
Brendon Woollard
Cinematographer
Julia Ivanova
Producers
Adithya Sambamurthy
Bonnie Thompson
Executive Producers
David Christensen
Valerie Lapinski
Charlie Phillips
Executive Director
Michelle van Beusekom
Sound Design
Chris McIntosh
Postal Audio
Colourist
Herman Ansink
Studio Post
Phone Footage
Steven and Mucharata Minog
Thanks
Mucharata Minog
Brian and Dianalee Walrond
Rick Kirschner
MacMurray Gospel Assembly
NFB Pacific Studio
Wes Machnikowski
Shirely Vercruysse
Jennifer Rowan
Production Coordinators
Faye Yoneda
Ginette D’Silva
Production Supervisor
Esther Viragh
Program Administrator
Bree Beach
Centre Operations Manager
Darin Clausen
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in Collaboration with The Guardian
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About the NFB
For more than 80 years, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has produced, distributed and preserved those stories, which now form a vast audiovisual collection—an important part of our cultural heritage that represents all Canadians.
To tell these stories, the NFB works with filmmakers of all ages and backgrounds, from across the country. It harnesses their creativity to produce relevant and groundbreaking content for curious, engaged and diverse audiences. The NFB also collaborates with industry experts to foster innovation in every aspect of storytelling, from formats to distribution models.
Every year, another 50 or so powerful new animated and documentary films are added to the NFB’s extensive collection of more than 14,000 titles, half of which are available to watch for free on nfb.ca.
Through its mandate, its stature and its productions, the NFB contributes to Canada’s cultural identity and is helping to build the Canada of tomorrow.