NWT-shot Arctic sci-fi adventure Lumi to open Yellowknife festival

A post-apocalyptic Arctic sci-fi movie by a Yellowknife director will open the city’s biggest film festival at the start of November.

Lumi is directed by Jen Walden and was partly shot in the NWT.

Promotional materials describe Lumi as following a teenager who must brave the tundra after she and her humanoid AI are attacked at a remote cabin.

The movie is the Yellowknife International Film Festival’s opening attraction. It screens at the city’s movie theatre – previously the Capitol Theatre and now becoming The Reel North – from 7pm on Wednesday, November 4.

Tickets are available online, as are passes for the broader festival.

“It’s such a higher-budget project than what I’ve been able to do before,” said Walden, who previously directed 2018’s Elijah and the Rock Creature. Lumi was shot in Calgary and the NWT after the production was backed by Telefilm funding.

“You’re going to see things we haven’t done before. We had a stunt coordinator. We have some bigger set pieces happening. We’re out there with Ski-Doos and things are crashing and racing around. We’re working with a full dog team, 12 dogs racing along the snow, towing toboggans and people falling off,” Walden told Mornings at the Cabin.

“Up here in Yellowknife, we shot all of our exteriors for the film. People are going to see the North on the big screen in the dead of winter, [while in Alberta] we were working on full sound stages with built sets, stunt crews and rigging. You’re just getting a production value that’s kind-of off the charts. A brand new experience. I’m excited for people to see it.”

The cast includes Juliette Hawk, Giacomo Gianniotti (Grey’s Anatomy), Glen Gould (Cardinal) and Michelle Mylett (Letterkenny). Hawk, the lead, was 16 when filming took place. She will be in Yellowknife for Lumi’s screening and a Q&A.

The Calgary sound stages played host to an “entire dystopian village” at one point, Walden said, but the production made a point of ensuring significant chunks of the movie were shot in the North.

“For sure, the expense came up – we could do this cheaper somewhere else – and I was really adamant that wasn’t going to happen because it just looks different. It is different, and we know that from up here, right?” she said.

“It was so important to me that we shoot here, and also that we maintain a lot of the authenticity, so if they’re going to a rustic hunting cabin, it does not look like a Swiss chalet. That’s not what it is.

“We have this dog team, and I was like, ‘No, they’re not all beautiful matching Siberian huskies.’ Like, that’s not what they look like, and I really stuck to my guns on that. I think people will really appreciate that and recognize it on the screen.”

Yellowknife residents worked with the dog teams and drove snow machines among other production roles while Lumi was in town.

“I hope northerners will feel some pride in the fact we can make big stories, big movies, big action adventures here at home,” Walden said.

“It was a real community effort. I think it rocks, and I hope people are going to come check it out.”