Aboriginal network's camera operator
wins
coveted cinematography award
Canadian
Media Guild | TNG Canada
Local 30213
A spectacular filming job has earned
an Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) employee
a coveted award that has always before gone to someone
working for either CBC, CTV or Global TV.
Luke Smith, a Métis camera
editor/operator at the APTN Whitehorse bureau, won
the Stan Clinton Award for News Essay and Cinematography
for Caribou Matter, which features the Porcupine caribou
herd and the people who rely on it. He was one of three
national finalists for the award by the Canadian Society
of Cinematographers.
"From the first time this piece aired, we all
saw it was some special work," says Greg Taylor,
president of the APTN branch of the Canadian Media
Guild.
In a news release offering
congratulations to Smith, Jean LaRose, the CEO of
APTN, says "We have long
known the talent and expertise that our staff brings
to our network, so it is particularly satisfying that
Luke's contributions have been recognized on such a
grand scale."
In the four-minute news essay written by Roxanne Livingstone
and produced by Janet Leader, Smith's camera captures
images of the herd as it migrates past the Yukon village
of Old Crow and the Vuntut Gwich'in people during the
harvest, demonstrating how relationships among the
villagers depend upon and are defined by the caribou.
APTN is a private, not-for-profit
corporation based in Winnipeg with news bureaus in
Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Saskatoon, Vancouver
and Yellowknife. The network, which started broadcasting
in 1999, serves First Nations, Métis and Inuit
peoples in Canada. About 20 per cent of its programming
is in an aboriginal language.
