Return of the Far Fur Country

Some great responses from our community screenings of the Far Fur Country footage the last month.

In Alberta we returned to the Ft. McMurray Heritage Park for a screening, and in Ft Chipewyan to the Ft Chipewyan Municipal Building with help from the Ft Chipewyan Bicentennial Museum.  We made some great connections with elders, and teachers at both of these events.

From Alberta, there was a quick trip to Abottsford BC to present at the University of the Fraser Valley, home to collaborator Peter Geller.  Nice to visit Stephanie Gould’s documentary film class too.

On our Ontario tour, we visited University of Western Ontario in London, thanks to the invitation of Juan Bello in the Film Studies department and then up to the Bluewater Outdoor Education Centre in Wiarton, Ontario, thanks to the invitation of Deborah Diebel.

Our first screening in the UK was held at the Glasgow Film Festival Feb 22.  The festival arranged for some traditional Scottish fiddle music to accompany the 30 minutes of film, followed by a presentation by project c0-producer Chris Nikkel.

It has been a busy schedule touring the film program.  Looking forward to the coming months of editing back in Winnipeg.

In November, at the Snow Walkers’ Rendezvous in Fairlee, Vermont, Sue and I attended Kevin Nikkel’s presentation, “Treasures from the Far Fur Country”. Included in his lecture was video footage extracted from archival 35mm silver nitrate film used to create the silent motion picture, The Romance of the Far Fur Country. These video files, restored in a painstaking frame-by-frame process, were employed, in conjunction with diaries from the film’s crewmembers, to recreate the 1920 film.

About 115 attendees at this limited registration event were captivated by the 30 minutes of footage Kevin shared with us. As the Snow Walkers’ name suggests, we share a common attraction – winter travel. However, the preview was quite diverse in activities shown and it was fascinating to observe how the audience recognized various elements unique to their particular specialized interests. One can learn lots about a topic (be it dog personalities or documentaries) by taking note of the reactions of others to the topic. And during both Kevin’s Friday evening offering to the entire group and then at Saturday morning’s heavily attended break out session (one of about a half dozen to choose from), it was clear that this documentary had the broad appeal to mesmerize everyone. We Inuit Dog enthusiasts were captivated by images of early dogs and dog team travel. For others it was the tools and techniques of beaver trapping and ice fishing. Still others were keen to learn more about the actual process of digitizing extremely dangerous silver nitrate film. Some viewers were haunted by the scene of sad-faced Inuit children dressed in western garb moving along in a line while attending government (or missionary) mandated school.

Sometimes a project evolves beyond what was originally intended. And that seems to apply here. When completed, what Kevin and his colleagues will have accomplished will be more than just recreating Romance of the Fan Fur Country, originally made to celebrate the Hudson’s Bay Company’s 250-year presence in Canada. They will have also preserved a sociological, anthropological and archeological goldmine. The restored film isn’t some Hollywood creation with actors pretending to be people from the early 1900s. What you will see on screen are actual people from the early 1900s, doing what they did in the early 1900s, in the actual places where they lived and worked. The people and the places are all real. The lives being lived and everything that went into that are all real. It’s a remarkable opportunity to witness details of a bygone era.

Mark & Sue Hamilton / The Fan Hitch

Better than TIFF – York U screens Return of the Far Fur Country Friday 14th 7 pm

By dbazely | September 13th, 2012 | Blogs

Here is a brief update on our travels to BC earlier in the month to screen archival footage from the Romance of the Far Fur Country.  Chris Nikkel is preparing an extended narrative of the trip, but this will do for now.

Totems, Alert Bay, BC 1919 Romance of the Far Fur Country

Vancouver, July 31, 2012

The tour of the Romance of the Far Fur Country footage traveled west this summer with a great turn out to the Vancouver screening on July 31^st. This was my first time at the VanCity Theatre, the home of the Vancouver International Film Festival.  Tom Charity made us feel at home.  After the screening 30 minutes of excerpts from Romance, Peter Geller joined me on stage to give a brief talk about the context of the film, followed by a Q&A. 

Victoria, August 1, 2012: 

Our Victoria screening brought us to the Cinecenta Theatre on the campus of University of Victoria.  The event was co-sponsored by the Victoria Historical Society and the Friends of the BC Archives. Peter Geller again joined me for the presentation/Q&A afterwards.

The event was very well attended, followed by another spirited discussions about the archival images, particularly the Alert Bay sequences.

Chief Bill Cramner, Kevin Nikkel, and Chris Nikkel in Alert Bay, BC 2012

Alert Bay, August 1-4, 2012

The drive north from Victoria took us 5 hours to reach the ferry terminal of Port McNeil. From there we travelled by ferry to Alert Bay on Cormorant Island.  The afternoon screening at the U’mista Cultural Centre in Alert Bay was well attended and warmly received.

Happy to have had writer/collaborator Chris Nikkel along for these screenings & shooting dates, as well as Winnipeg shooter Ryan Herdman giving us gorgeous visuals for our documentary.

A big thank you to the local groups that supported and hosted this leg of the tour: the Victoria Historical Society and the Friends of the BC Archives, as well as the U’mista Cultural Centre, Vancouver International Film Festival’s Vancity Theatre, Cinecenta Theatre in Victoria, and the University of the Fraser Valley, which supported Peter Geller’s involvement. 

Thanks also to the Canada Council for the Arts, Winnipeg Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Council, and Manitoba Film & Music for their contributions to the project. 

Kevin Nikkel

Thanks to the University of the Fraser Valley for posting this blog on our highly anticipated screenings of “Romance of the Far Fur Country” excerpts in Vancouver, Victoria and Alert Bay next week.  Their blog here:

http://blogs.ufv.ca/2012/07/historical-canadian-footage-to-be-shown-in-vancouver-for-the-first-time-in-over-90-years/