Aurora Love

This screening took place on Sunday, February 2, 2020 at 8:45 pmYukon Arts Centre

Dir. Fritz Mueller, 2019, YT, 52 mins

The neon lights of downtown Tokyo are a world away from the darkness and cold of the Canadian North. But for many Japanese the opportunity to see the  aurora borealis is a once in a lifetime trip.

Yukon filmmakers Fritz Mueller and Teresa Earle follow three different groups of Japanese folks as they leave behind the ordinary world of work, chores and school for Yellowknife, in Canada's Northwest Territories, in search of the elusive phenomena. In amongst the tourist expeditions and sight-seeing trips, something mysterious begins to happen. The North, in all its silence and expanse, strips away the superficial stuff, revealing more elemental needs and desires. Be it hope, connection or transcendence, the aurora provides different things to each person. But at its heart is a reawakening to the deepest sense of being alive.

In English and Japanese, w/ English Subtitles

Director Fritz Mueller and producer Teresa Earle in attendance.

"Beautifully filmed, a visual treat. Helps to amplify the appeal of the aurora and the transcendental depths it evokes among many. Wonderful work, from Yukon talent and highly recommended." Brian Eaton, ALFF programming advisory committee

Screens with: Stories for the Arctic Refuge

Dir. Krista Davis, 2020, YT, 15 mins

Follows a group who are hiking through Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in hopes of meeting the Porcupine Caribou Herd. The narrator, admitting to a perverse desire to be close to everything, wants nothing but to spoon a caribou. Her Gwich’in friend Jeffrey challenges her throughout the trip to shift the way she imagines this closeness. Dawson-based Davis uses video art intercuts the documentary scenes with vignettes that propose exercises for restructuring our relationship to animals, land and the resources we pull from it.

Director Krista Davis in attendance.