Halifax filmmaker’s work bound for MIPDoc

APRIL 2, 2014 by THE CHRONICLE HERALD

Arctic Defenders, by Halifax-based filmmaker John Walker, is one of six Canadian movies that will screen at MIPDoc 2014, the world’s leading international documentary market, taking place April 5 and 6 in Cannes, France.

“Canada’s presence at MIPDoc is very important, because this must-do event allows producers to network, promote their projects, find strong subjects and locate financing sources,” Carolle Brabant, executive director of Telefilm Canada, says in a news release.

Arctic Defenders, which had its world premiere at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax last September, “recounts the story of a radical movement that led to the largest land claim in Western civilization, orchestrated by young visionary Inuit with a dream: governance of their territory, with the creation of Nunavut,” says the release.

Walker, who has been visiting Canada’s Arctic since 1968, wrote and directed the documentary, which won the Atlantic Film Festival’s top prize, the award for best feature.

Previous wins at the Atlantic Film Festival include the Rex Tasker award for best documentary for his film Passage (2008) and Place of the Boss: Utshimassits (1996).

He received an honourable mention in the category in 2003 for his documentary Men of the Deeps and was named best director in 2008 for Passage.

SEE PAGE