A local film company is seeking tough women to star in a dystopian fantasy thriller. Northwest Territories (NWT) producer Kirsten Carthew says picture Mad Max but based in the Arctic.
Little Dipper Films Inc. is a new Yukon-NWT company incorporated in the Yukon specifically to co-produce the feature film called Polaris. Little Dipper is a partnership between Yukon producer Max Fraser and NWT producer Kirsten Carthew, whose respective production companies own Little Dipper.
“We have entered into a co-production arrangement with the Quebec film and TV company Megafun Productions Inc. of Montreal, with producer Paul Cadieux,” Carthew said.
The film features an all-female cast of girls, young women and adult warrior women. Actors of all ethnicities, sizes and abilities are encouraged to apply Carthew says.
“We are really encouraging Northerners to audition,” Carthew said. “Some of the roles are pretty intense and do require a fair level of commitment.”
Carthew says there are several other roles in the film that are easier and have a lower barrier to entry. These roles don’t require as much commitment.
“It is the story of a young girl who is taking captive by a brutal hunting party, who is intent on killing her mother,” Carthew said. “The young girl’s journey for the film is to escape capture, reunite with her mother and find her way home. So it’s a fairly simple story.”
“We are looking for an all-female cast,” Carthew said. “We are looking to cast women of all different ages, different shapes and different backgrounds.”
Carthew says sometimes people get the impression that films are only looking for certain types of people, this isn’t the case with the film Polaris.
“We’re really looking for those identified females in basically all shapes and sizes,” Carthew said. “I think the roles we are looking to fill are pretty cool, getting a chance to star as a warrior woman I think is a really fun opportunity. And we’d be really excited and thrilled to see a lot of Northerners try out.”
Carthew says that toughness comes in all shapes and sizes. She encourages everyone who has dreamt of being a star on the big screen to apply.
“A friend of mine was suggesting his grandma, she is a frail and tiny woman but she’s got that fierce look in her eyes,” Carthew said. “It’s more about the spirit and willingness to put yourself out there and, you know, try something different. I think it will be really fun for anyone who applies.”
Polaris is featured in an upended world, during forever-winter, where women endure a harsh lifestyle, reflective of a brutal environment, inherited from the brutal disregard of generations prior.
“It is the story of a young girl who is taking captive by a brutal hunting party, who is intent on killing her mother,” Carthew said. “The young girl’s journey for the film is to escape capture, reunite with her mother and find her way home. So it’s a fairly simple story.”
It is perhaps the first such company formed by Yukon and NWT film producers to make a feature film, Carthew says. However, the company is still waiting to close their financing for the film.
“We feel very optimistic about it and decided to move forward with a casting and crew call,” Carthew said. “We’ll be shooting the film in February and March of 2020.”
This thriller film is set in the year 2100 when futuristic snow machines roam the frozen tundra in the Arctic and then it has layers of complexity added on top to make it much more entertaining and cinematic, Carthew says.
“One of those layers the all-female cast,” Carthew said. “And in response to why an all-female cast? I think my gut reaction is to say, why not, I’m not saying it’s been done before, I just never seen an all-female cast on the screen.”
Carthew says the film is looking at how people build each other up and also how people can rip each other apart. Therefore this is one of the reasons for choosing an all-female cast because she wanted to focus on that theme.
However, the design for the ‘Max Max’ like snow-machines is not being released to the public yet, Carthew says.
“We’re not sharing them right now,” Carthew said. “We’re also developing them and the cool part about the design is we are using a lot of found and recycled material from the north, but right now while we’re still waiting to close our funding.”
Subject to financing, an open casting call is expected to be announced for Whitehorse in October, Carthew says. At that time, interested candidates outside of Whitehorse should contact [email protected] about how to submit a self-tape for an audition.
“This is a Winter shoot,” Carthew said. “Characters will be dressed in warm, highly stylized attire that will require custom fittings and rehearsal periods in advance of production. Youth under the age of 16 will require legal guardian consent. These are also paid positions.”
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