NFB Collection
Passage
20081 h 48 min 28 secFilm: Documentary
Direction: John Walker
Production: Andrea NemtinKent MartinJohn WalkerBill Nemtin
Script: John WalkerAndrew Rai Berzins
Produced by PTV Productions and John Walker Productions in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada, with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund, Rogers Documentary Fund and Film Nova Scotia, in association with History Television, BBC Scotland, Nova Scotia Film Industry Tax Credit, OMDC, and CAVCO.
It was news that shook the English-speaking world. Celebrated British explorer Sir John Franklin and his crew of 128 men had perished in the Arctic ice during an ill-fated attempt to discover the Northwest Passage. More shocking, they had descended into madness and cannibalism.
The report came in 1851, from John Rae, a Scottish doctor working for the Hudson's Bay Company. Travelling thousands of miles on foot and in small craft, Rae had done what six years of searching by the British, Americans, French and Russians had failed to do - discover the fate of Franklin and unlock the final link in the Passage - a 300-year-old dream.
But Rae's horrific news did not sit well with Sir John's widow, Lady Franklin, nor with many others in British society, including Charles Dickens. They waged a bitter public campaign that would discredit Rae's version of events, banish him to the margins of history and mark an entire nation of northern Inuit with the horrifying label of murderous cannibals.
With Passage, filmmaker John Walker employs an innovative approach to structuring the incredible multilayered story of John Rae and brings it to vibrant life. Using a unique blend of dramatic action, and behind-the-scenes documentary footage, Walker pulls back the curtain on his own research into Rae's life and that of his actors, as they determine how to portray the characters and scenes in the film. The line between real and dramatic begins to blur as we move closer and closer to the film's cilimax, a stunning face-to-face meeting between Charles Dickens's great-great grandson and Tagak Curley, an honoured Inuit statesman who challenges the fraudulent history. In one moment, Walker vaults the story from the past into the present and we are witness to history in the making.
Set in the actual locations of Rae's journey, from his boyhood home in the remote Orkney Islands off Scotland's north coast to the epic landscape of his Arctic expeditions to the boardroom of the British Royal Navy - the centre of power of the British Empire, Passage is a story of incredible sacrifice, stunning distortion of the truth and single-minded obsession. It challenges the way we look at history.
Availability
Other versions
Subject categories
- Geography and Geology > Arctic RegionExploration and ExpeditionsPortraits
- History - Canada - Pre-1867 > Exploration
- Media Education > Documentary Film
- History > Early Canadian Exploration (1600s-1800s)
Credits
- writer
- John Walker
- director
- John Walker
- producer
- Andrea Nemtin
- Kent Martin
- John Walker
- executive producer
- Bill Nemtin
- director of photography
- Kent Nason
- additional photography
- Nigel Markham
- Andrew Speller
- John Walker
- editor
- Jeff Warren
- John Brett
- sound
- Alex Salter
- Jim Rillie
- music composer
- Jonathan Goldsmith
- music - arrangement
- Jonathan Goldsmith
- music producer
- Jonathan Goldsmith
- based on the book
- Ken McGoogan
- screenplay
- Andrew Rai Berzins
- cast
- Rick Roberts
- Geraldine Alexander
- David Acton
- Andrew Alston
- Shaun Austin-Olsen
- Nigel Bennett
- Alistair Findlay
- Colin George
- Patrick Godfrey
- Simon Slater
- James Wallace
- Guy Oliver-Watts
- Gerald Dickens
- casting
- Clare Walker Casting
- Jessica Carney Associates
- production manager
- Marlene Rassmusen
- Judith Hackett
- Susan Baker
- videographer
- Marlene Rassmusen
- Kyle Cameron
- focus puller
- Becky Parsons
- Brad Larner
- clapper loader
- Becky Parsons
- David Churchill
- production coordinator
- Clare Richards
- Shauna Hatt
- dialect coach
- Aimee Leonard
- interior designer
- Marion Yorston
- hunter
- Alan Shearer
- David Nuluk
- John Kaunak
- climbing support
- Derren Foxx
- sailing yole
- Maurice Davidson
- Ian Richardson
- stills photographer
- Gunnie Moberg
- Nance Ackerman
- driver
- Terry Todd
- skipper
- Adam Clarke
- Stromness Drama Club
- Phyllis Brown
- Ciaran Delaney
- Graham Garson
- Finlay Harnden
- Ross Harnden
- Jane Hunter
- Philip Mackay
- Doreen McLellan
- Rose Matheson
- Jim Robertson
- advisor
- Bernadette Dean
- interpreter
- Bernadette Dean
- guide
- David Nuluk
- John Kaunak
- elder
- John Kaunak
- camp support
- Susan Nuluk
- Marie Kringuk
- Bobby Sanertanut
- Gary Natar
- igloo
- Paul, Sr Kanayuk
- dog team
- Paul, Sr Kanayuk
- drum dance
- Cecilia Angotialuk
- Elizabeth Aglukka
- Alice Nanorak
- Honore Aglukka
- Michel Akkuardjuk
- Pasqualina Putulik
- John Kaunak
- musician
- Monica Mapsalak
- Jackie Milortok
- Marcel Mapsalak
- Levi Katokra
- Paul Mablik
- production consultant
- John Huston
- Lavinia Warner
- office manager
- Marnie Bienias
- unit manager
- Tiffany Muckpah
- Lorraine Puqiqnak
- Tracy Wallace
- Vincent Ningark
- Marie Kringuk
- translator
- Tiffany Muckpah
- production assistant
- Guido Tigvareak
- Kelly Adams
- Gene Kanayok
- Gary Natar
- transportation
- Darryl Siusangnark
- 1st assistant director
- Stuart J.C. Williams
- 2nd assistant director
- Kay Robertson
- location manager
- Ralph Cameron
- Debra Beers
- lighting gaffer
- Steve Swannell
- Ken LeBlanc
- best boy
- Pat Sweeney
- camera operator
- Becky Parsons
- lighting
- Steve Kitchen
- Roy Furness
- Bob Jeffs
- Richard Buckley
- Jess MacGillivray
- grip
- David Maund
- boom operator
- Paul Munro
- Andrew Rillie
- costume design
- Sue Thomson
- wardrobe
- Emma Fryer
- Jeanie Kimber
- makeup
- Lisa J. Robbie
- hair design
- Lisa J. Robbie
- makeup assistant
- Ely Jim
- Nadine Beed
- hair assistant
- Ely Jim
- Nadine Beed
- property master
- Edward Cross
- Keith Currie
- script supervisor
- Kirstie Edgar
- Joanne Hagen
- production associate
- Suridh Hassan
- Clare Richards
- Jesse Fawthrop
- Megan Malet-Veale
- Sarah McCarthy
- craft service
- Didi Jolly
- Lothar Mayer
- production designer
- Emanuel Jannasch
- camera assistant
- Paul Bégin
- Darcy Fraser
- Andrew Stretch
- key grip
- Doug Betts
- best boy grip
- Peter Fraser
- swing grip
- David Wishart
- electric operator
- David Wishart
- genny operator
- David Wishart
- set designer
- Karen Toole
- set dresser
- Mike Holleran
- construction co-ordinator
- Ewen Dickson
- graphic design
- John Hencher
- David Howse
- 3rd assistant director
- Devin Hillier
- assistant production manager
- Lisa J. Robbie
- assistant to the producer
- Tiffany Merritt
- production accountant
- Wendy Brathwaite
- Andrea Romak
- researcher
- Barbara Sears
- Elizabeth Klinck
- Concetta Principe
- naval consultant
- Gordon Laco
- centre administrator
- John William Lutz
- production supervisor
- Patsy Coughran
- marketing manager
- Amy Stewart Gallant
- map animation
- Ian Dunbar
- sound editor
- Alex Salter
- re-recording mixer
- Allan Scarth
- assistant on-line editor
- Chris MacIntosh
- PowerPost coordinator
- Christopher Fost
- online editor
- Doug Woods
- post-production coordinator
- Roz Power
- assistant editor
- Trevor Schellinck
- Ariel Nasr
- Aaron Shapero
- Colin Kish
- Candice Desormeaux
- score orchestrator
- Dan Parr
- score conductor
- Dan Parr
- score preparation
- David Nichol
- orchestra contractor
- Roberto Occhipinti
- soloist
- Hugh Marsh
- James Mason
- Clare Scholtz
- Kathy McLean
- score recording
- Michael Banton-Jones
- score mixing
- Michael Banton-Jones
- associate producer
- Cindy Witten
- Michael Kot
- Ewan Angus
Awards
- Ed Higginson Cinematography Award given to Kent NasonAtlantic International Film Festival
- Best DirectorAtlantic International Film Festival
- Best PictureReel to Real International Film Festival for Youth and Families
- Silver Chris Award (Best of its Division) International Film and Video Festival
- Best Canadian FilmWorld Media Festival