DEAD NORTH - a circumpolar horror/fantasy/sci-fi short film-making festival, open to all the good peo
10/17/2024
Call For Film Scripts!
YKIFF’s Live Table Read is back and will take place on November 2, 2024, at the Elk’s Lodge, kicking off festivities for the 18th annual Yellowknife International Film Festival. If you have a story to tell, please submit it to [email protected]
Tickets can also be ordered on the
wamp.ca website!
Doors open at 5:00pm with the show starting at 6:00pm at the Yellowknife Elks Lodge.
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Borrowing straight from the title of one of the most mayhem-filled films this year, Dead North 2020 landed upon us like a human-dog servant trying to fetch a flaming ball gag (You’ll see what we mean!). Yup, it was that kind of year again here at Dead North, one filled with butt portals, dog gods, killer snowmen, animated Frostbite, lazy mob(p)sters, frozen caribou heads, murderous hair clogs, cursed guns, restaurant ghosts, civil war cannons, creepy dolls, tree monsters, kitties and yes, finally a film about a Zombear! That sounds about right for a night out on the town with friends and family!
We had 50 mind-melting films hailing from Dawson City, Tulita, Fort Smith, Inuvik, Hay River, Dettah, Norman Wells, Iqaluit, Cambridge Bay, Yellowknife and Sweden. The force was strong with the NWT this year, churning out 40 of the films and repping a good selection of our communities. There were 6 youth films this year that we screened all in one night so the kids could run amok and show the adults how it’s done. We were blown away by the films these youth have made and have no doubt that in a few years, we will all be working for them.
New this year, we introduced the Hyperborea Talent Lab. Free to Dead North filmmakers, this two day lab saw 9 filmmaker teams assemble to work through their 2020 submissions and get them ready for the big time. Helping them knock it out of the park were our 3 amazing Mentors: Dead North family alum Karen “Walty” Walton (Ginger Snaps); Kelly Michael Stewart (Blood in the Snow Film Festival); and Jeff Barnaby (Blood Quantum). The goal for this lab was to see 9 films get supercharged, travel the world to major festivals (Fantasia, first and foremost) and work their way towards becoming larger projects that the Northern film industry can sink its teeth into!
As always, we couldn’t do any of this without these key board members: Meagan Wohlberg our Director of Communications; Mandee McDonald the bad-ass Volunteer Coordinator; and Andrew Silke running special projects as our (working title) Digital Media Coordinator! They have worked tirelessly for the past 3 months helping to raise this wild festival-baby with us and are equally responsible for how rad this year was.
As we close the coffin on another phenomenal festival, Dead North would like to thank the mob of creatives who helped us make the 2020 festival so outstanding. It takes a village to make a monster, and we couldn't do without the support of our amazing creative community: Sarah McCusker for designing the festival and Hyperborea Talent Lab programs; Kristel Derkowski for designing our killer Zombear hoodie; Cody Fennell for once again designing an awesome poster that is loved the world over; Robyn Scott & the NWT Creative Collective for painting fabulous murals, making incredible props, and taking care of venue design and set-up; Rebecca Plotner for baking us that horrifying, oozing, delicious cake; Jennifer Walden for capturing our beautiful festival on video; Hannah Eden, Pat Kane and Amanda Annand of the Far North Photo Festival for their stunning event photography; Erin Peters for making our gorgeous Zombear trophies; Veronica Speers for doing Loren and Jay's makeup on Saturday night; Chris Wood and Cory Timmer at the Capitol Theatre (plus their stellar staff) for putting up with the mayhem that is Dead North; Paul Henry and team at the Copperhouse for taking such good care of our crew at the wrap-up party. Jeff Pitre and Ryan Dempster at Pido Production for friggin everything they did to keep our Live shows and webstream sounding right and looking tight; Roys Audio Video for the killer screen and sweet sound at Hyperborea, Jeremy & Emma of Fat Fox along with Savannah’s for the fine foods at our workshops and events, Maxine Bromley at the Champagne Room for the elegant workshop and gala space (and Jared & Niki for generously sharing the place), and the Black Knight & Top Knight staff for hosting us at the Zombear Awards venue.
Super-duper extra-special thanks to: Bran Ramsey the Box Office Manager; Tim Jones as Technical Operations Manager; Keith Robertson the DNFF Trailer & DCP Editor; Belinda Beck & Erika Nyyssonen our Merch Managers, and...
ALL OF THE AWESOME VOLUNTEERS (we LOVE you, so much!)
Finally, we would be deader than a zombie meeting a 12-gauge loaded with slugs if it wasn’t for our funders, sponsors and friends of the festival. The NWT Film Commission truly makes this possible with their support every year and we are very proud to share the success of Dead North with them. The NWT Arts Council helped us pay some people this year for all their hard work and that has made all the difference in the world. Mclennan Ross LLP stepped up out of the blue this year to help fund the Hyperborea Talent Lab. Signed, as always, is responsible for all the amazing printed materials - thank you Janet Pacey and team for printing our large posters and banners! NWT Brewing Co. was on board this year and we can’t think of a better place in town to go have a drink to try to calm our nerves after watching this mayhem on screen (their food is killer too!). Barren Ground Coffee kept us jacked after long nights out on the town. Sun Dog Adventures was the official dog sled touring company for our Mentors and guests (and, in case of the apocalypse, they will be the best way to escape!). All our t-shirts, toques, hats, etc. were handled locally by Sarah at Erasmus Apparel. The NWT Professional Media Association, WAMP (Jeremy, Terry, Davis, Courtney) and Nicolas Servel (Radio Taiga) were huge supports in helping the filmmaker teams get their films polished this year, and finally Gabe at Raven Web Services helped bring us out from the dark ages and into the light, cyberspace-wise. Thank you all.
And so, we hope you had someone to hold you tight as you ventured to the Capitol Theatre from February 27-March 1, 2020. These films were deranged, surreal, challenging and boldly made by Northerners who braved the -54C windchill this year to entertain you all. The wild creativity of these films washed over us all and helped remind us why living in the circumpolar world feels special and connects us all, dead or alive.
From everyone at Dead North, thank you and see you in 2021!
Jay & Pablo
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