aRTLeSS Collective won the NWT Film Commission’s Northern Filmmaker Award for Behchokǫ̀ Evacuation: Strength and Resilience in the Face of Fire on the final night of the 2024 Yellowknife International Film Festival.
The documentary tells the story of nearly 2,000 Tłı̨chǫ citizens who, in the summer of 2023, were evacuated from their home in Behchokǫ̀ due to wildfires.
Said Film Commissioner Camilla MacEachern: “The film highlights the Tłı̨chǫ Nation’s courage and unity, capturing the tireless efforts of government officials — many of whom were evacuees themselves — to support their community in this challenging time.”
(Image courtesy of aRTLeSS Collective)
Pablo Saravanja and Jay Bulckaert founded Yellowknife-based aRTLeSS Collective in 2013.
Bulckaert said within two days of the evacuation of the community, the Tłı̨chǫ Government contacted aRTLeSS, wanting people on the ground with a video camera to film everything that was happening.
“I think it’s a really brilliant move on their part for posterity sake,” Bulckaert said on Sunday night.
“Should this ever happen again? They’ve got a direct record of all the things that were happening in the moment in real time, so that they can assess the things that worked well, and then the things that, you know it can be improved upon next time.”
The sold-out Sunday night program featuring seven short films from the NWT and Yukon, including: Welcome to the Pit; Hunting in the Dehcho; The Raven, The Medzih Story: Restoring a Caribou Landscape; YKDFN – The Copper People; and Edaxàdets’eetè/We Save Ourselves.
Yellowknife-based Sadetło Scott made We Save Ourselves during the wildfire evacuation, adding to the usual hurdles of summer bugs or cold weather northern filmmakers face.
“Yeah, we have a lot of unique challenges to overcome when filming here,” Scott said, noting her short documentary explores the connection between Indigenous language revitalization and climate action.
“If you’re from the North, you’re having to experience and deal with things like climate change and all these different kinds of variables. I think we’re unique, but that uniqueness really adds to the kind of stories that we develop here. It’s a good thing to be able to overcome adversity.”
Her film was developed during a mentorship, where she went to Northern Norway, to meet with other participants and meet their mentors.
“And while that was happening, I was in Norway, our community got evacuated. So that really ended up changing my approach to how I was going to be able to film and in, you know, a very beautiful way, I felt super supported there, and just kind of decided, like, let’s just go for it.”
Jonathan Antoine’s film is called Hunting in the Dehcho, chronicling Dene people harvesting moose.
“Two years ago, I was hunting with my friends, and then I just thought that this should be, like a documentary,” said the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́/Fort Simpson producer.
Bran Ramsey executive director of Western Arctic Moving Pictures. (James O’Connor/CKLB)
Dene people hunt for moose in the fall, as they’re the fattest, and that’s the perfect time to get them and they use traditional hunting knowledge passed down from their parents and their grandparents.
Dene tradition instructs hunters to be thankful for their harvest, use all the animal and share with those who might need it.
We use everything on the moose. We use every single thing. And it’s also giving thanks to the animal that you just, you know, harvest and and this, like, day and age, there’s a lot of people that don’t give thanks to what they’re eating,
Western Arctic Moving Pictures (WAMP) stages the film festival and its executive director Bran Ramsey was pleased with the five-day event, with some new sponsors and partners, with workshops moved to a new venue.
“The films are very well attended, the workshops are incredible, and all the events have been maxed out,” said Ramsey on Sunday night.
“We’re just trying to give the film people, filmmakers and film audience, a more polished experience.”
Encore screenings for certain films have been added Tuesday through Thursday at the Capitol Theatre. See WAMP’s website for information.
On Friday, the territorial government announced a significant expansion and enhancement of the NWT Film Rebate Program doubling to $1 million from $500,000.
Such programs are commonplace in jurisdictions across Canada, as they benefit local filmmaking communities by attracting more productions and creating job opportunities.
“I think it’s going to do wonders for both the filmmaking community and the people who want to work on sets, or for people want to be in front of the camera,” said Ramsey.
“It’s going to do great things for everyone.”
Sadetło Scott made We Save Ourselves during the 2023 wildfire evacuation. (James O’Connor/CKLB)
