Niagara, Ontario Native Kevin McMahon Produces Powerfull Documentary On Arctic To Be Aired On TVO

A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper –

Few contemporary Canadian writers and filmmakers I know – and I am pleased to say I know this one  – have spent more time documenting issues impacting on the people and environment of Canada’s far north than Kevin McMahon.

Filming the Arctic Project for TVO

Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, has bee up there in recent years for photo opportunities and looking for oil-drilling opportunities as the Arctic’s ice shield melts, but Kevin began going there in the 1980s,chronicling the plight of the peoples of that region around environmental impacts they were already suffering in documentary films and in a book called ‘Arctic Twilight’.

Now Kevin, who was a reporter at the old Burgoyne family-owned St. Catharines Standard when we worked there together back some three decades ago, has employed all of the passion and intelligence I know he does to help put together this coming Polar Sea Project series to be aired on TVO. Please watch it, and now here is a note from Kevin, along with key links for this production and related others.

Hello Friends and Associates

I am writing because you advised us with, worked on or may be interested in our Polar Sea project, which was three years in the making and now is about to launch. I want to let you know what we have created and where it can be seen. 

In Canada, it is called The Polar Sea. In Europe it is called PolarSea360. 

It is a 10 hour documentary television series that follows three middle aged Swedish men, amateur sailors, who set out to conquer the Northwest Passage, which they believe to be freed from ice by global warming. Of course, nothing turns out as they expect. 

That’s the tip of the ice berg. As we travel from Iceland, across Greenland and Canada to Alaska, our sailors’ story is interwoven with those of scientists investigating climate change, communities coping with it, northern artists reflecting upon it and the rich and tragic history of Arctic exploration.

The TV series is accompanied by an extraordinarily rich online magazine and a collection of 360 degree immersive experiences which run online, on an app (available free at App stores) and on the Oculus Rift virtual reality system. The whole project was was a collaboration between our company, Primitive Entertainment, and our colleagues at DEEP Inc.

The Polar Sea debuts December 1 on TVO in Canada and on Arte in Europe. It will run every week night for two straight weeks – such is our broadcasters’ commitment to bring attention to the subject. In January it will run on The Knowledge Network in British Columbia and will be rerun on TVO every Sunday night for ten weeks. We are still working on obtaining a broadcaster in the United States. Our partners in Germany will be distributing the project throughout Europe in the coming months.  

Those of you outside the current viewing areas can still experience a lot of the project through the online elements and the App. After the initial broadcasts we will be making DVDS and downloads available. 

Our goal with the project was to get beyond the “polar bears are threatened” story that everybody knows and look at the complex and sometimes contradictory impacts of  climate change, particularly on people who live in the Arctic, and in the context of their history. Also we wanted to make something beautiful, fascinating and funny. 

By making the content available through TV, writing, and various  360-degree immersion platforms,  we are trying to engage people of all ages and interests.

Many dozens of talented people have been working on this project full time for years. Many more scientists, community members and artists worked with us and advised us. We are proud of what we have achieved together;  there has never been any media work which has looked at Arctic climate change from as many angles as does The Polar Sea. 

It really takes viewers into a world that they have never seen —  because, until now, it did not exist. 

The trailer will give you a taste of the TV series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMK7zU_m8qg

One of the many 360 experiences created by DEEP:

http://goo.gl/WNsM60

The magazine gives you an overview of the content:

http://www.polarsea360.com/episodes/01/

From your phone or tablet you can download the PolarSea360 App for free

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video about the TV series: 

http://goo.gl/nNEiNA

Arte’s web site brings the elements altogether

http://polarsea360.arte.tv/

And of course we are on Facebook and Twitter where you can get more information on the project and the issue, and can spread the word if you wish.

https://www.facebook.com/PolarSea360?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/polarsea360

We are very grateful to all of the people who helped us and we hope you really enjoy exploring the results of all our labour. 

And, of course, we hope it rings some bells out there in the big wide warming world.

Thanks again.

All the best, Kevin McMahon

Creative Director, The Polar Sea/PolarSea360

Find out more about Kevin’s prodctions by visiting – www.primitive.net

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