Northlore blends live action, animation to tell northern stories

Northlore, a 54-minute exploration of the connection between people and northern nature, features NWT artist Casey Koyczan’s animation at its heart.

Now streaming on the National Film Board of Canada’s website, Northlore tells the stories of five Yukon residents and their lived experiences with the land and wilderness around them.

In the film, the five subjects are seated around a campfire sharing their stories, which appear as a mix of animation and live action.

Co-director Dave Hamelin of Whitehorse and lead animator Koyczan, who is from Yellowknife, spoke with Cabin Radio about creating the documentary. 

“Northlore started a few years ago as a pitch for the Available Light Film Festival for a short film,” said Hamelin, referring to the Whitehorse film festival at which Northlore had an opening-night screening last month.

Hamelin had previously filmed with Gary Sidney Johnson for a feature about Johnson’s first moose hunt as an adult. When their pitch to the NFB was successful, he said, they began developing that into a larger film.

Koyczan, an interdisciplinary Dene artist, was chosen as lead animator – his first time taking on such a role. 

“Our job was basically to create the reenactment footage of their stories in a 3-D environment,” he said.

As Northlore plays out, sequences around the campfire cut to the animation Koyczan contributed.

The stories being told are “all true stories about people who’ve had significant moments in their life that were connected with being outside, being out on the land, and how being on the land transforms the human spirit,” said Hamelin.

“A lot of it came down to the place we live in. I mean, the Yukon’s a really big, beautiful place, and it was just a great way to tell the stories of people living in a pretty remote place.”

Asked about his favourite part of being lead animator for the first time, Koyczan said: “When I was asked to do this, I knew it was going to be a lot of work.

“But right away, I also knew it was going to be an amazing learning opportunity – that I was going to learn so much about 3-D animation, modelling, and bringing together multiple assets from different people to create a scene.”

Northlore is a Fireside Films co-production with the National Film Board of Canada, in association with CBC and Northwestel Community TV.

The documentary is co-directed by Melaina Sheldon alongside Hamelin and features storytellers Elisabeth Pilon, Melissa Matheson, Michael Code and Dennis Shorty alongside Johnson.