THIS LAND An award winning film

This Land is both an award winning film and Gemini nominated interactive web project directed and written by Dianne Whelan and produced by The NFB. Dianne also wrote a book about her experience titled This Vanishing Land.

They confront blizzards, labyrinths of crushed sea ice and near-impassable glaciers, with temperatures hovering around -50°C, to raise a flag on the northernmost tip of Canadian soil (a mere 412 km from the North Pole). With a mesmerizing soundtrack by Nunavut-born singer and narrator Tanya Tagaq and spectacular footage of the Arctic landscape, Dianne Whelan's documentary This Land captures the epic adventure with raw immediacy.

In the tradition of Arctic explorers leaving a letter behind for the next generation, This Land serves as a poignant and profound message from the past to the future, as well as an intimate look at a fragile and staggeringly beautiful part of Canada that is changing right in front of our eyes.

THE NFB INTERACTIVE

A Production of the National Film Board of Canada

"The ice now is rotting from the bottom... Because the ocean is getting warmer.
And it is melting the ice so much faster then it used to.
It is changing fast."

Looty Pijamini (Inuit artist)

THE FILM

Written and Directed by Dianne Whelan
Editor: Ileana Pietrobruno
Cinematographer: Dianne Whelan and David Henningson ( DOP)
Narrator: Tanya Tagaq
Producer: Selwyn Jacob
Executive Producer: Tracey Friesen

2010 THIS LAND, the documentary
LEO for Best Short Documentary and Best Sound Design
LEO nomination for Best Cinematography

2009 THIS LAND “Best Canadian Short Documentary” - Planet in Focus Film Festival,

Intro

Other Projects

  • bp
    THE BEACON PROJECT

    The Beacon Project is a series of multimedia creations in collaboration with Indigenous communities along The Great Trail. A companion piece to the feature documentary 500 Days in the Wild.

  • 500 Days
    500 DAYS IN THE WILD

    Feature film 500 Days in the Wild is an unfolding story that ebbs and flows between documentary and adventure film, along the longest trail in the world – the 24,000 km Great Trail (the Trans Canada Trail).

  • ThisLand_0001_this land 12
    THIS LAND

    An award winning documentary, book and interactive project by Dianne Whelan about a 2000 km journey in the High Arctic.
    Film and Interactive Produced by the NFB Film with soundtrack by Tanya Tagaq.

  • 40days
    40 DAYS AT BASECAMP

    Each spring, over eight hundred climbers attempt to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. Some make it to the top of what is considered the world’s most majestic mountain, but others are not so lucky, and in the attempt to reach the elusive summit, many more have tragically lost their lives.

  • Arctic. Ellesmere Island. 2007
    NATURA

    This collection of photos is inspired by the earth. When you listen to her, she speaks.

  • the Scream
    WAKING EVE

    This collection of b/w photographs dates to the beginning of my journey as a visual artist in the early 1990’s.