Sunday, March 25, 2018

Lazy Sunday # 515: The Wild Canadian Year



Canadian film-makers are forever trying to think up new ways to show Canada to the world. An interesting phenomena since most of the world and even a majority of Canadians haven't seen it in the first place.

We have huge expanses where nobody lives or that only see a human presence on very rare occasions. Many of these are locales of such stunning beauty and grandeur you'd think they'd draw crowds larger than those that flock to the Great Pyramids and Taj Mahal.

But the blessing in our disinterest in these places is that they teem with wildlife.

In honor of our just completed 150th birthday, a celebration that saw such things as a giant rubber duck being towed to various urban locations, the Documentary division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation dispatched more than a dozen camera crews under the supervision of film-maker Jeff Turner to spend more than 800 camera days recording what goes on in these remote places.

The shoots took place during all four seasons, producing a remarkable five part series entitled "The Wild Canadian Year".

If you haven't seen it, or just want to have your breath taken away once more, the entire series can now be found either on its own YouTube Channel or here.

In addition to episodes for each of the seasons, there's a great final hour documenting how the whole thing got made.

But Turner and his crews weren't happy just documenting what they saw. They wanted to find yet another way to show Canada to the world. And they did that by including 360 degree cameras in their arsenal.

These astounding scenes not only take you into the Canadian wilderness, they make you feel like you've been abandoned there. For no matter where you look as you swing from horizon to horizon, there is nothing to suggest any other human being is within miles of you.

This is amazing footage worth visiting whenever you feel the walls of your apartment or the banality of an urban landscape closing in on you.

It just might just be the best thing we did to mark our 150th year and watching it will go a long way to helping you...

Enjoy Your Sunday.



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