The Northern Lights

199247 min 40 secFilm: Documentary

G

Direction: Alan Booth

Production: Lindsay Ann CookeAlan BoothJerry KrepakevichGraydon McCrea

Script: Lindsay Ann Cooke

Co-produced by Yellowknife Films and the National Film Board of Canada with the financial assistance of Telefilm Canada, in association with the Global Television Network, and with the assistance of the National Research Council of Canada, the Northwest Territories Arts Council, Science Culture Canada, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism and Department of Education of the Northwest Territories and the Non-Theatrical Production Fund of Communications Canada.

Since the beginning of time, people have gazed into the polar skies, spellbound by dancing beams of colour... the northern lights. Though scientists have advanced many theories to explain the aurora borealis, and aboriginal people around the northern pole have passed down their beliefs through the centuries, mysteries still linger. As the auroral curtains shimmer throughout this production, we experience a visual panorama of animated legends, international space launches, and indigenous people and scientists offering their perceptions of the wondrous northern lights.

Subject categories


  • Sciences > Astronomy and Space Sciences
  • Religion, Beliefs and Ethics > Indigenous SpiritualityMythology
  • Indigenous Peoples in Canada (First Nations and Métis) > Legends and Literature
  • Indigenous Peoples in Canada (Inuit) > Traditional stories
  • Media Education > Film and Video Production
  • Science > Space

Credits


director
Alan Booth
cinematography
Alan Booth
producer
Lindsay Ann Cooke
Alan Booth
Jerry Krepakevich
executive producer
Graydon McCrea
script
Lindsay Ann Cooke
sound
Garrell Clark
Jerry Krepakevich
Lindsay Ann Cooke
Dan Cross
William R. Law
William Butler
Rod Crawley
editing
Michel Lalonde
animation
Bertrand Langlois
Elizabeth Lewis
François Aubry
re-recording
Dino Pigat
narrator
Michael Kramer
Lydia Slabyj
music
Quartet Icarus

Awards


  • ANZAAS/CSIRO Prize for Best Science Film - with a cash prize of 1,500$AUST (ex aequo with On the Eight Day: Perfecting Mother Nature (Part II) Making Perfect Babies)International Film Festival
  • First Prize - Category: Math/Science and Technology - with a cash prize of 100$US International Educational Film Festival
  • Silver Apple Award - Category: Physical ScienceNational Educational Media Network Competition
  • Honorable Mention - Category: Physical Science / New TechnologyItinerant - American Film and Video Festival