Available Light Film Festival: Whitehorse Event Brings the Thrills (and Chills… It’s Yukon!)

By Kim Hughes

WHITEHORSE — Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto… and Whitehorse?

It may not offer the red-carpet dazzle of marquee events in France and Germany, but the Available Light Film Festival, on now until February 19 in Whitehorse, Yukon, has distinct charm and a recognizable footprint that actually benefits from its comparative lack of star power.

Voices Across the Water

Without an army of flesh-eating publicists, boldface stars or paparazzi sucking up all the oxygen, attendees at ALFF can focus on the 101 films screening in two theatres (and 20 streaming online) while marveling at the quality and variety drawn from across Canada and around the world, all sagely overseen by festival director Andrew Connors and senior programmer Kinga Binkowska, under the aegis of the Yukon Film Society.

That’s one of the great things about film festivals: they are like big buffets for the eyes and mind, and if one film isn’t overly appealing, just shuffle down the line to the next. Inevitably, something great will land. Plus, there’s always ample opportunity to take a chance on something heretofore unknown that could yield a rewarding surprise.

That ALFF happens in a remote northern community in wintertime makes attending it even more of an adventure. Trust me, if you want to raise eyebrows, tell someone you’re going to Whitehorse in February. Watch your back, Sundance: you’re not the only festival offering a slate of outstanding documentaries, features, and shorts with a side of skiing and a legitimate reason to drink copious amounts of scotch. A powerful lure indeed.

The opening weekend of the 21st edition of “Canada's largest film festival north of 60°” demonstrated that ALFF is a solid blend of mainstream heavy-hitters such as The Whale and Aftersun — titles that had screened at TIFF last fall — playing alongside arguably more niche but no less intriguing fare like Geographies of Solitude, Sweet As, and Voices Across the Water.

Other titles of note, large and small, include Clement Virgo’s Brother, Oscar-nominated Living, EO, and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, France’s Saint Omer, Rosie, Blood Quantum, Framing Agnes, Ever Deadly, Doug and the Slugs and Me, I Like Movies as well as Eternal Spring, the ALFF opening film.

For a small group of Toronto-based journalists hosted by Telefilm Canada, an ALFF presenting partner, the event was a chance to play tourist in an off-the-beaten-track — but decidedly hip, food-and-craft-beer friendly — town while making great cinematic discoveries.

It was also a welcome chance to catch up on titles previously missed amid the plethora of choices routinely taken for granted by us big city dwellers, such as Riceboy Sleeps (yours truly), Bones of Crows, and Navalny.

Indigenous programming is cornerstone to the festival, with multiple titles featuring First Nations talent in front of and behind the camera. These included Blood Quantum, Sweet As, and Ever Deadly.

Much excitement surrounded the Saturday evening screening of Polaris. It’s a wigged-out dystopian drama made in the Yukon and featuring many locals, which in turn drew locals keen to show their support.

As is typical at these events, movie-goers are encouraged to vote for favourite films which could be game-changing for winners, given the attached monetary prizes.

The Made in the North Awards, for example, offer a $5,000 purse for Best Canadian Feature Film (the director must be a citizen or permanent resident), $3,000 for Best Northern Short Film for a director residing in Yukon, Northwest Territories, Labrador, Nunavik and Nunavut, and another $3,000 for Best Canadian Short Film for the director residing outside the North.

In a statement on the festival website, organizers note that “The Made in the North Award is designed to advance the talent of Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, and LGBTQ2S+ Canadian filmmakers with a focus on those living in northern territories and regions of Canada.”

That’s an initiative we can all get behind. There is also a sizable industry component to ALFF though, given time restraints, I couldn’t explore.

It was suggested, quite smartly, by someone at Telefilm Canada that using nationwide film festivals as a launch point for selecting travel destinations is rather a good idea. Whether in Whitehorse or Whistler, Kingston or Calgary, moviegoers can discover cinema while exploring a new community, which basically amounts to expanded horizons and something to do every minute of every day, if that’s how you roll.

All roads don’t lead to Toronto after all.