Netflix gets behind big-budget comedy series set in Nunavut
CBC, APTN also backing series created by 2 Inuit women
It doesn’t have a name yet, but a new big-budget comedy series set in a fictional Nunavut community has gained the backing of Netflix, APTN and CBC.
The three companies announced Thursday they will be commissioning the series, which will be written by Inuit filmmakers Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril. The two co-own Red Marrow, a production company.
The show follows a young Inuk mother trying to build a new future for herself in a small Arctic town where everyone knows your business, according to a news release Thursday.
In that news release, the two filmmakers described it as “full of stories that come straight from our hearts and our funny bones.”
“We’ve drawn from our experiences as Inuit women living, laughing, crying and shacking up while Native,” the duo wrote.
“Huge boost” for Nunavut film industry
News of the series first came to light a little over a year ago, when Aglok MacDonald and Arnaquq-Baril presented to an Iqaluit council committee about it. Aglok MacDonald told the committee the goal was to air a 10-episode first season by fall 2023.
At the time, it was said to be the most expensive TV production ever in Nunavut, and the production was expected to create hundreds of jobs over a period of six months.
In Thursday’s news release, APTN’s director of TV content and special events Adam Garnet Jones called the show “a dream come true” for the company.
“A very short time ago, it would have been impossible to imagine an Indigenous comedy shot in the Arctic, with massive national and international reach,” Garnet Jones wrote, adding Nunavut’s film industry would “receive a huge boost in a way it never has before.”
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Inuit short film makes the Oscars short list, Eye on the Arctic
Finland: Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay brings film crew to Finnish Lapland, Yle News
Greenland: Nunavut children’s books translated for circulation in Greenland’s schools, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: Walt Disney Animation Studios to release Saami-language version of “Frozen 2”, Eye on the Arctic
