With globalization of content on streamersLocal and specific stories tend to reason broadly. In Canada it is true for Netflix-Hosted other window runs such as series such as “Shitings’s Creek” and “Kim’s convenience”, so it was only a matter of time before the streamer invested in a unique Canadian story.
State “North of the north“A Brand-New Inuk Comedy From Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril that Filmed in iqaluit, Nunavut (The Largest and Northernmost Territory of Canada), Last year. The Project is a co-commission from Netflix In Association with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).
“North of North” is a series of first. It is the first original scripted Canadian Commission from Netflix, the first scriptful series that filmed in Nunavut, and the first project that captured the everyday joy in a historically incorrectly presented culture.
The eight-section series revolves around a young inuk mom named Siaja (Anna Lambe) who realizes that she needs a new start, so she blows her life to create her own way, despite the expectations from her community. There is laughter, but this is also a series about representation and social tempowerment. It takes place during the festive spring, and Siaja works at the Community Center, where all hands.
“For us, social centers are the only building in town where you can make big gatherings or weddings or choices,” Arnaquq-Baril told IndieWire during a fixed visit. “You name it and everything that requires a lot of space happens at the community center.”
From the beginning, production challenges included resources and filming during suboptimal weather. When possible, materials must be sent at sea during the short tin to save on expensive air freight. For texture during reshoots, the production carried dumping cars full of snow from surrounding areas.
Some sets were constructed in Toronto, dismantled and sent out and have now been preserved for a potential second season. They flew empty generators and found the locals to raise them. The production had to pause twice when a housing and mining convention came to town because there was not enough hotel space to accommodate everyone.
“There are only a limited number of resources in town, and sometimes things are just not available,” said production designer Andrew Berry. “And we can’t absorb all that resource so it is not here for society. We had to take up our own everything.”
When the series first developed with CBC, the limited budget producers left with few alternatives. The first thought was to film in Sudbury, Ontario, and on a sound scene in Toronto. But it created practical problems, such as avoiding trees or flying 100 extra in the south.
“We also thought there was no way that we could make an Inuit-led show about the Arctic and shoot it in southern Ontario,” said Managing Producer Miranda de Pencier. “It just wouldn’t happen.”
Collaborating with Netflix and its substantial (but impeccable) increase in the budget helped to get production to where it needed to be physically, but it was society that pushed this series to the finish line. The production borrowed and transformed the IQaluit curling track in a studio that housed built sets, but they also went into real places and homes for an integrated feeling. Costume designers relied on social media to source people flying into Iqaluit to bring certain objects from Ottawa or Toronto. The crew worked with a local cabin company to find out transport, including on film days when portable laundry rooms were not practical because the pipes would freeze.
“The first four episodes were difficult because we really had to develop a lot of logistics,” said Anya Adams, who directed the first two parts. “When we did, it also helped society understand what we did so that they could come behind us and not feel affected.”
Aglok MacDonald and Arnaquq-Baril live in Nunavut, and they had many important conversations with their neighbors about what was required and how they wanted to give back. The priority employment and education locals where possible, held educational workshops to help young people tell their own stories, used a female team of domestic directors, including Adams and Danis Goulet, and went to work with a production studio with public and private financing.
“The studio is separate from the show but is made possible by the show,” said Aglok MacDonald. “Filming in curling rink is a disposable matter. It is much used by society, and we cannot remove it continuously. So we quickly came down to collection to build the studio.”
Arnaquq-Baril adds that, with “north of the north”, many could see the immediate impact on society, both financially and when it comes to creating a platform. “Being able to continue is important,” she said. “We were determined to use this as an opportunity where others can renew themselves and do their own projects, even if it is not the same scale as the project we have.”
Co-showrunners have worked extensively with De Pencier in the past on projects such as “The Grizzlies” and “Throats Song.” She recalls that they say early that they did not want anyone from the south to come to the north without creating something that lasts.
“It was they who said it will come enough to come and go. People dive in and do something, and then they disappear, and nothing changes,” they said Pencier. “They said, if we are to put energy into these projects, you must invest in the future.”
Lambe, who was born in IQaluit, also appreciates Co-Showrunner’s community-oriented strategy. It was part of what attracted her to the series. “It’s not just about how we can show our society in a way to the world that allows people to see us authentic, but also how can we strengthen and support our members in society to engage in an industry that has often exploited and or left them from the conversation?” She told Indiewire. “So to see how this industry has grown so much, during my lifetime living here, is incredible.”
“North of North” will start flowing on Thursday, April 10 on Netflix.
