Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

Pierre Radisson was an explorer in New France adopted by the Iroquois, whose journeys led him to the rivers around Hudson’s Bay. This was an area teeming with beavers ready to be exploited for the European market. The Pierre Radisson is also the name of a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, a mammoth metal vessel that plies the waters of the Gulf of St Lawrence and the Saguenay Fjord, making waters navigable for scientists and commercial ships. And Pierre Radisson: Fjord and Gulf is also the name of a feature film shot aboard the Pierre Radisson, a piece of moving-image art. Through a series of composed, contemplative shots – ranging from 20 seconds to more than 4 minutes long – it shows us the ice-breaker — interior and exterior, top to bottom, bow to stern – as it journeys up and down Canadian waters.

Ben Donoghue is a Toronto based artist, curator, and filmmaker, and is the former Executive director of LIFT (Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto). Pierre Radisson: Fjord and Gulf is his first feature which had its world premier at Toronto’s Images Festival on Sunday, April 21, 2017 at 5 PM at Innis College Town Hall.

I spoke to Ben in studio at CIUT 89.5 FM.