Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, I had the profound enjoyment of taking in this year's Dead North Film Festival, watching 31 short films that capture the imagination and creativity of Northerners. Dead North is the world's only circumpolar genre film festival and has produced 90 original short films over the past five years. These films are not short on originality, Mr. Speaker, cutting across horror, science fiction, and fantasy genres, and for the most part, shot in familiar locations here in Canada's North. These films touch on themes as diverse as the traumatic legacy of residential schools, imagining an arctic zombie outbreak, or investigating a fur hat from space with an appetite for human flesh.
Some of Dead North's films have gone on to screen at major festivals around the world including Fantasia, BFI, New York City Horror Film Festival, ClermontFerrand Film Festival, and soon, the prestigious International Cannes Film Festival in France. This great northern film festival is made possible by the support from local businesses and great organizations like the NWT Arts Council, Western Arctic Motion Pictures, and of course, the NWT Film Commission.
I am delighted that this event is so well received and is supported constantly by our community with tickets selling out in two hours this year. So without a doubt, Mr. Speaker, the Northerners want to tell their own stories by creating their own films here in the North. Not only is this something that Northerners want, but something Dead North proves that Northerners can do.
Mr. Speaker, one of those Northerners is Keith Robertson, whose film BAIT! won best poster at Dead North and now has been handpicked to continue on to the Cannes Film Festival, where it will be screened along with selective films as part of Telefilm's Not Short on Talent program. Apart from being a filmmaker, an amateur filmmaker, Mr. Robertson is a teacher at Range Lake North School and his success is proof positive that Dead North is a potentially lifechanging creative experience. I want to congratulate him for his achievement, and I wish him continued success on this film and future projects as he continues to tell original northern stories.
Mr. Speaker, these projects are not only the work of one filmmaker. They're the work of actors, crew, and production teams, and I'm thrilled to see these efforts play out on the silver screen. I want to congratulate all of those who contribute to our growing film industry, and for this year's amazing Dead North Film Festival. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. See you at the movies.
Masi. Members’ statements. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
