THUNDER BAY – A giant inflatable red igloo that sprouted up over the weekend at Intercity Shopping Centre is already starting to draw crowds of people eager to learn a little more about their country.
All week the dome will play host to free screenings of Horizon, a SESQUI-produced, 22-minute awe-inspiring look at Canada from coast to coast to coast, a 360-degree cinematic experience produced in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the country’s founding.
Thunder Bay, which is not featured in the film, is one of seven Ontario cities hosting the dome this summer, joining Toronto, London, Windsor, Sault Ste. Marie, Richmond Hill and Kingston.
Joanne Loton, a co-founder and executive producer with SESQUI, said the filmmakers were inspired in part by an event that took place in Canada’s centennial year.
“We really wanted to bring a little piece of Canada to every Canadian in the community in which they live,” Loton said Monday, following a special sneak-preview screening for media and local dignitaries.
“We were inspired by Expo ’67. Canadians came to Montreal in 1967.”
The reaction in cities it’s already screened in have been positive, Loton said, adding wonder and awe are the words she hears most.
“I think people come away with a real sense of pride and a renowned love or renewed love of Canada. A lot of people are inspired to go travel the country. In this environment, because it’s circular, it’s like an old-school planetarium screening,” Loton said.
“You’re looking at everybody’s reaction as they’re experiencing the film with you and I think it really creates a really cool communal space that people aren’t really used to these days.
The film features shots from 50 different locations across the country, from Peggy’s Cove, N.S., to the spectacle of the Northern Lights in the Northwest Territories, to the hustle and bustle of Vancouver to depictions of Art Alive in Pikangikum First Nation in Northwestern Ontario.
MP Patty Hajdu (Liberal, Thunder Bay-Superior North) was among the first in Thunder Bay to see Horizon, and came away even more impressed with her country than she already was.
“The ice gliders, that was something phenomenal,” Hajdu said. “The way the movie captured the broad expanse of the ice, I thought that was particularly beautiful.
“I also really liked the Indigenous culture aspect of the film … It was really beautiful to see the dancers and the wind. And I thought they captured the elements of how rugged it can be in our country in terms of weather and just the natural beauty of our country.”
Screenings will take place about every half an hour from noon to 10 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, and from noon to 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
