This year’s North Bay Film Festival is shaping up well for Northern Ontario filmmakers, including North Bay film producer and Candaore College Digital Cinematography professor Dave Clement.
His new feature film Angelique’s Isle is headlining the festival’s opening night at The Capitol Centre this Friday night at 9:30 according to a news release.
“I’m very pleased to be able to bring the film to an audience in the place I call home”, said Clement. “I feel this project has set the gold standard in what can be achieved by Northern Ontario filmmakers”.
Angelique’s Isle represents many firsts for Northern Ontario’s burgeoning film industry, including being the first professional feature film written, produced and directed by people actually from Northern Ontario.
“For the first time ever we’re seeing a multi-million dollar film project put together by producers from North Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay all working together, it’s truly a pan-Northern success story”.
Angelique’s Isle is based on a true story that occurred in 1845. Angelique, a young Anishinaabe woman, and her French-Canadian voyageur husband Charlie find themselves left for dead on Lake Superior's Isle Royale by a corrupt Detroit copper hunter. As hunger sets in, Angelique - a devout Christian - struggles with her faith and must rely on the teachings she received from her shamanic grandmother in order to survive the harsh winter. Angelique’s Isle is a harrowing tale of survival and a testament to the resilience and strength of Indigenous women, set on the epic backdrop of the Lake Superior frontier.
Angelique’s Isle had its world premiere in Halifax in September but has since shown in at various film festivals including, the Cinéfest Sudbury International film Festival, imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival, two sold-out screenings in Thunder Bay and last week it won best film, best actress (Julia Jones) and best supporting actress (Tantoo Cardinal) at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco.
Next week the film screens in Los Angeles and is hitting the theatre in Australia.
Clement is also happy to see a total of seventeen Canadore student made-in-North Bay short films hitting the big screen at the North Bay Film Festival this weekend, including a block of fourteen shorts screening at the Canadore Student Film Showcase Friday.
The North Bay Film Festival runs from November 16-18 at the Capitol Centre, screening 12 feature films and a number of short films from around the world.
The Teaser Trailer for Angelique’s Isle can be viewed here:
