ALFF FILMS

A PEOPLE:

PICTURING A PEOPLE: GEORGE JOHNSTON, TLINGIT PHOTOGRAPHER

DIR. CAROL GEDDES, 1997, YUKON | 51 MIN

SCREENING SPONSOR: YUKONSTRUCT

Carol Geddes’ documentary about trail-blazing Tlingit photographer and hunter, George Johnston, is itself a vanguard in Yukon history given that it’s the first major film production that tells a story of the Yukon written, directed and produced by a Yukon filmmaker. Join ALFF for a special screening in celebration of the 25th anniversary of this powerful film!

This unique portrait of Kaash KlaÕ (George Johnston), a photographer who was a creator of portraits and a keeper of his culture, is a told from the perspective of a filmmaker who is of the same people; the Teslin Tlingit, Deisleen Kwáan, who live on the lands surrounding Teslin Lake. A trapper, fur trader, entrepreneur and photographer, Johnston cared deeply about the traditions of the Tlingit people, and he recorded a critical period in the history of the Tlingit Nation. The images he recorded—of special moments and everyday occasions—became a beacon to the young and a testament to the golden times of the Tlingit people. As Geddes says, his legacy was “to help us dream the future as much as to remember the past.”

This documentary is a unique portrait of George Johnston, a photographer who was himself a creator of portraits and a keeper of his culture.

Director Carol Geddes in attendance for post-screening Q&A.

Pleistocene Park

DIR. LUKE GRISWOLD-TERGIS, 2022, USA | 101 MIN

SCREENING SPONSOR: YUKON CONSERVATION SOCIETY

Fifteen years ago, Russian geophysicist Sergey Zimov published an article in the journal Science showing that frozen arctic soils contain twice as much carbon as the earth’s atmosphere. These soils are now starting to melt. Haines, Alaska filmmaker Luke Griswold-Tergis embarks on an inexplicable, deeply embedded reportage on Zimov and his son who are convinced they can reverse, or at least help prevent climate change by returning to the climate of pre-ice age times where massive grazing ungulates roamed what is now the Boreal Forest by gathering any large, wooly beasts they can find and transporting them to the most remote corner of Siberia: a place called Pleistocene Park.

In English and Russian with English subtitles.

Polaris

DIR. KC CARTHEW, 2022, ON/QC/YT | 89 MIN

SCREENING SPONSOR: YUKON FAT HORSE COMPANY

This award-winning made-in-the-Yukon eco-action fantasy is set in the year 2144: think Mad Max on skidoos.

Viva Lee plays Sumi, a ten-year-old female raised by a polar bear in a frozen dystopian female world who must evade capture by a group of warriors called the Morads. When Sumi stumbles across Frozen Girl, an unlikely friendship is forged and together they race ahead of the vindictive hunters towards the only guiding light Sumi knows - the POLARIS star.

Producer Max Fraser plus many cast and crew in attendance for post-screening Q&A.

Recommended for ages 13+ for violent and disturbing scenes.

“Funnels a smorgasbord of influences into a fastpaced, all-female eco action fantasy.” - Allan Hunter, Screen International

Rematriation

DIR. ALEX LIOTTI, 2022, BRITISH COLUMBIA | 67 MIN

SCREENING SPONSOR: SOLVEST INC.

British Columbia’s Old Growth forests represent one of the last lines of defence against climate change, and contain scientific properties we barely understand - yet mismanagement and greed have left less than 2.6% of them standing. Only one of hundreds of valleys (outside of parks) remains entirely uncut on Vancouver Island - Fairy Creek (Ada’itsx). An Indigenous led movement to prevent the cutting of this last Old Growth watershed has now become Canada’s largest act of civil disobedience, and the government response has been alarming.

Rematriation explores scientific, cultural, economic and sociopolitical perspectives, as citizens fight to protect the last big trees in BC from being felled.