2 By Jeremy Benning csc, Martin Wojtunik and Mike Reid
D
Photos: PICTUREHAUSFILMS
ocumentary filmmaking is often an exercise in remote logistics planning involving a very small team. Looking back on how we made this film, it reminds us of astronauts getting trained on how to use cameras in space, not only the technical aspect of it, but also getting them to think of how to tell a story with a lens. Our hero subject was essentially our spaceman. Director Francis Luta and DP Jeremy Benning csc had made a short documentary about professional explorer and best-selling author Adam Shoalts (dubbed “Canada’s Indiana Jones” by the Toronto (L-R) Adam Shoalts, Mike Reid and Francis Luta filming near Star) in 2015 called Explorer, which was the begin- the mouth of Thelon River in Nunavut. ning of our relationship with him. This evolved into Adam asking us to make a feature doc about his sesquicentennial solo trek across the Arctic. Between the months of May and September 2017, over 100 days, Adam would traverse some 4000 km from west to east on foot and canoe alone. The terrain was radically diverse, from lakes (some with ice breakup), rivers, rapids, creeks, rocks, mud, sand, tundra, morass, hills – the full gamut. And bugs. Clouds of mosquitos, black flies and so on. Adam had been meticulously planning this trek for years, and he was doing it regardless of the film being made. As a completely indie film, the steep Top photo and above, Adam Shoalts. Canadian Cinematographer - February 2021 •
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