Eagle Plains

This screening took place on Monday, June 24, 2024 at 8:00 pmYukon Theatre

Filmed over the course of several years by former Dawson resident, Leah Byrne.

Eagle Plains is an observational nonfiction film about the remote Eagle Plains Hotel and service station, in Yukon Territory, Canada. Located at the midpoint of the Dempster Highway, 37 kilometres southwest of the Arctic Circle, it is the only gas pump along this 740-kilometer stretch of gravel road, with a year-round population of 8.

A gorgeous, image-oriented doc about a day in the life of the speck of modern human presence in the middle of the vast Dempster Highway that is the film's title. The camera slowly watches the villages' eight inhabitants tend to their labours that keeps the elements at bay. Almost a visual poem, its framing, extended takes, and persistent roar of machinery draws its viewer into its wordless contemplation. Lyrical, hypnotic, stunning.

Tony Berto, ALFF Programming

Screens with:

Underdog

DIR. Naomi Mark & Vivian Belik, 2016, Yukon | 10 MIN

In the wake of her mother’s death, dog sledder Yuka Honda prepares to compete in the 1,000 mile Yukon Quest from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon. As Yuka launches into her training with a heavy heart there are several obstacles in the way: finding the strength to train while still grieving her mother's death and a lack of finances to carry out the full-time job of training her dogs. We follow Yuka as she meets these challenges with an infectious spirit of determination. As training comes to a close Yuka makes final preparations for her journey to the start line in Fairbanks, Alaska. This ten minute observational documentary captures the pre-race excitement and tension in advance of a several day race through unimaginably extreme conditions.