''Picture of Light'' is a 1994 Canada-Switzerland poetic documentary film by

Peter Mettler Peter Mettler (born September 7, 1958) is a Swiss-Canadian film director and cinematographer. He is best known for his unique, intuitive approach to documentary, evinced by such films as ''Picture of Light'' (1994), ''Gambling, Gods and LSD'' (20 ...

. It was filmed in

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname ...

on two trips in 1991 and again in 1992. It is one of the key films of the

Toronto New Wave The Toronto New Wave refers to a loose-knit group of filmmakers from Toronto who came of age during the 1980s and early 1990s. History Atom Egoyan, John Greyson, Ron Mann, Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar, Peter Mettler, Jeremy Podeswa and Patricia ...

Synopsis

Canadian/Swiss filmmaker

's goal of filming the

Aurora Borealis An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of br ...

, commonly known as the northern lights, is both a quest, a visual symphony and an extended metaphor. The journey begins with a train trip through the blustery snow scape from Winnipeg to

Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

, a community only accessible by rail or plane on the shores of

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

. A five-member crew, including Mettler, who appears in the film and provides the voice-over commentary, along with eccentric Swiss meteorologist, Andreas Zuest, who financed the film, camps out in a local motel run by a

Croat The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Ge ...

immigrant populated by an odd collection of rugged Churchillian residents while they wait for the conditions to be right to capture the notoriously difficult lights on film. An intellectual travelogue, the film examines the gulf between the knowable and ineffable. It is a meditation on nature, technology and a visual postcard from a corner of the country few Canadians ever get to see for themselves. Mettler used time-lapse photography to capture the dancing lights, and among other things, had to work in conditions so extreme, the camera had to be protected against temperatures dropping to minus 40 Celsius.

Critical reception

"On one level, ''Picture of Light'' is a quintessential Canadian portrait of a natural world ''in extremis'' – a community surviving in a harsh land; a living, breathing, good-natured defiance of the elements; a frigid reminder of the necessity and futility of technology. It is also an examination of an elusive, fluid subject from different points of view. Essentially, the film is an accumulation of representations, or pictures of the lights, whether in language, photographic, or video images." (

Tom McSorley Tom McSorley (born Thomas Holland McSorley) is a Canadian film critic and scholar, based in Ottawa, Ontario. He is the Executive Director of the Canadian Film Institute. He is also a sessional lecturer in Film Studies, at Carleton University; a ...

)

Awards

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

- selected as one of Canada's Essential 150 Films 2017 * Figueira da Foz Festival - Grand Prize – Images & Documents *

Locarno Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, s ...

- La Sarraz Prize *

Hot Docs International Film Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

- Best Film, Best Cinematography, Best Writing *

Canadian Independent Film Caucus The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) is a non-profit organization representing the interests of independent documentary filmmakers in Canada. Founded as the Canadian Independent Film Caucus (CIFC) in the 1980s Canada. DOC advocates for ...

Documentary Awards - Best Writing, Best Cinematography, Best Film – Science, Technology & Environment * Swiss Art Awards,

Federal Office of Culture The Federal Office of Culture (FOC) is an administrative unit of the Federal Department of Home Affairs, based in Bern, Switzerland. The agency has two extensive areas of responsibility: promoting Swiss culture and preserving the country’s ...

- Award for Excellence in the Arts *

Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival held biennially in Yamagata, Japan ( ). It was first held in October 1989, which makes it one of the longest running documentary film festivals in the world and ...

- Award for Excellence *

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...

- Golden Gate Award *

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

- Certificate of Merit

References

External links

* {{Peter Mettler 1994 films Films shot in Manitoba Films set in Manitoba Canadian documentary films Swiss documentary films Films directed by Peter Mettler 1990s Canadian films