Directed by Kent Tate

Logline: There are places that we seek, and there are places that find us.

Synopsis: There are places that we seek, and there are places that find us. One can never know for sure which comes first; the seeking or the finding. Often the unexpected moment occurs, the unforeseen discoveries, the meaning of which is informed by how one perceives that moment.

Distribution Contact: WFG

More Details

RUNTIME: 12 Minutes
GENRE: Documentary, Experimental
PRODUCTION FORMAT: HD
LANGUAGE: English
LOCATION: British Columbia
TECHNIQUES: Live Action
KEYWORDS: Landscape, Prairie, Ecology, Grasslands, Nature, Saskatchewan, Environmental

Director's Statement: From 1857 - 1859 John Palliser lead an expedition to survey present day southern Saskatchewan and southern Alberta which is occasionally referred to as the "Palliser Triangle." He deemed the region unsuitable for settlement because of the harsh winters, erratic rainfall, and frequent droughts, deeming it a wasteland. What he apparently did not see was an ancient Precambrian seabed rebounding from the last Ice Age with a dynamic range of ponds, lakes, and wetlands supporting various ancient cultures who had been sustained here for thousands of years. A land which had at that time a rich diversity of wildlife, including large herds of bison and the prairie grizzly bear. In 1914 Wallace Stegner moved with his family to Eastend, Saskatchewan in the heart of the "Palliser Triangle." At that time, it was in the midst of the process of transformation that we are still familiar with today. What Stegner saw was very different from John Palliser, as he described in his book Wolf Willow: “The drama of this landscape is in the sky, pouring with light always moving. The earth is passive. And yet the beauty I am struck by, both as present fact and as revived memory, is a fusion."

In September 2013, I received the Eastend Arts Council artist residency at the Wallace Stegner House in the village of Eastend, providing an invaluable opportunity to get a more intimate portrait of this area nearly 100 years after Stegner's arrival. Even with the tumultuous changes that are happening here today, this region remains spellbinding, embraced by enormous skies with forms and shapes that reach out to the seemingly endless horizons.