K9 Mounties

K9 Mounties

6x1/2hr Doc Series
ANIMAL PLANET Canada

Produced, Directed and Edited by Martin de Valk

K9 Mounties follows the 17 week training program at the RCMP’s Police Dog Service Training Centre – and then follows up with 3 of the graduates as they put their training into action in the real world.

The dogs are carefully bred, specially selected dogs – mainly German and Belgian shepherds. They  are matched to  the personalities of their RCMP Police Dog Service handlers, and together, they go through an internationally recognized training program demanding self-motivation, tenacity and fitness from both dogs and handlers

Teamwork is the goal – to find lost people, track wrongdoers, search for explosives and drugs, and  protect VIPS.

From puppies to police dogs, K9 Mounties is a six part half hour series following an elite group of dogs and handlers.  We will run beside the dogs and handlers, tracking their progress, feeling their success and failures as they hone their skills, and bond into a team prepared to meet the challenges of the real world.

Back in the Day: On the Mighty Fraser

Back in the Day SEASON 1

LEO Award Winner 2010 - Best Documentary Series  

6x1/2hr Doc Series
APTN

Produced by Martin de Valk

Co-Produced with Sir Perphoulous Films

Directed and Edited by Martin de Valk

It’s a question that’s been asked since Natives first left their traditional lands and moved into the city: how would I fare against my ancestors?

Back in the Day… aims to answer that question by taking six First Nations people from downtown Vancouver and putting them out into the wilds of British Columbia. Our collection of natives come from all walks of life; from a social worker on the eastside to an aspiring actor. 

Are they up to the task? How will they respond to a closed environment where the corner store no longer exists? Can they survive in “the past”?

Our participants will learn how to do everything from a traditional salmon catch to making their own shelters in the bush. 

Experiencing this steep learning curve will undoubtedly create an array of feelings and new appreciation. From frustration to euphoria our participants will be relying on their ability to adapt, communicate and initiate.

How will they respond to the challenge and a way of life only known to them through stories?

We will document our participants as they encounter personal and physical challenges in their attempt to succeed within the group.

The participants will be located in an isolated environment. They will have no access to the outside world except to ask for guidance from our Elders and Guides.

Back in the Day… is an intriguing journey into the past with the youth of today.

What will they come away with? A better understanding of our ancestors? A sense of relief, they we no longer live like that? Or a sense of loss? Back in the Day is about Young Aboriginal Adults reconnecting with tradition. 

For our audience, Back in the Day… will open a door into a living history few of us have ever seen.

Survival of the Fittest: Stories from the West Coast Trail

Survival of the Fittest

LEO Award nomination 2008 Best Documentary Program - Nature/Environment/Adventure

1 x 1hr Doc 
CTVglobemedia, A Channels
International Pay TV: Scandinavia & Eastern Europe /  Free TV: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary

Produced by Martin de Valk

Directed and Edited by Martin de Valk

Survival of the Fittest: Stories from the West Coast Trail is a heartbeat ride encompassing the sweat, stamina, and down-right stubbornness of the people on a quest to test their physical, emotional, and psychological prowess as they engange with Mother Nature.

This ain't no set-up of athletes or over-exercised actors. This is ordinary, everyday people engaging with real challenges that they have planned and anticipated for many months.

Survival of the Fittest: Stories from the West Coast Trail tracks the geographical journey and personal challenges one goes through to succeed at conquering the physical and environmental challenges that lure them off the couch and into the great outdoors.

Ever wonder what its like to carry a 50lb backpack over 75kilometers of rugged west coast terrain? It may seem like boot camp, or a punitive episode of Survivor, but in reality, it is the world-renowned West Coast Trail, located on the wild and remote west coast of Vancouver Island.

Everyday between May and September, 60 people from across Canada and around the world leave from either end of the 75 km trail embarking on a test of fitness and durability.

From 100 foot vertical ladders snugly fitted against rock faces, the the self propelled cable cars crossing rivers, the hihg tide charts and boat crossings by the local Native Band. Once you begin there is no way out unless you finish, turn back, or injure yourself. The Park Rescue Squad will only come if a real physical injury threatens your existance.

This is an expedition of a lifetime. Where smelly socks and muddy boots mingle with flickering fires and the unparalleled magic of the majestic Pacific.

Good to Go: Pitch to Premiere

Good to GO

13 x ½ hr Doc Series

CTVglobemedia, A Channels, CLT

Directed and Edited by Martin de Valk

Produced by Martin de Valk and Jim Eidt

 

Buckle up. Good to GO is a thirteen part ride through the creative process of film making. From pitch to planning to production to premiere – you’re in the front row for the exhilaration, the stress and the grit of movie making – where the dream fulfilled collides with the hard reality of the business. Get ready for that.

Good to GO is a documentary series that will provide you with unequalled access to the lives of the filmmakers on their journey to fulfilling a dream. Filmmaking can be lonely, frustrating work punctuated by moments of sheer madness, and like a birth, it is exhilarating, euphoric, and wonderfully intense.

The Pitch: Eight short listed teams have assembled to pitch their ideas. Each team will have less than thirty minutes to sell their project, and themselves, to the selection committee. Each team runs its own race, but only the selection committee can determine the finish line.

The pitch teams have been promised a quick decision. It’s what they want, but the selection committee struggles with the variety, the volume and the value of the projects. Seven of the eight teams didn’t win. They knew the odds going in.

The Winning Team: The script is ready, stripped down to reflect the limited budget. With just 15 weeks prep, shoot and edit, can the director make his ‘film’, and not the TV movie he fears it will become?

Rough and Tumble Business: Art versus business, creative versus commerce. It is the eternal struggle in the movie industry, between the director meeting his needs and the producers meeting their budget

The classic movie formula, get a million dollars, make a movie. Easy, right? Ask the Producer and Director. Do they have enough material on film to actually make the movie work? Visit the Good to Go Web Page for more info.

Buckle up. Good to GO is a thirteen part ride through the creative process of film making. From pitch to planning to production to premiere – you’re in the front row for the exhilaration, the stress and the grit of movie making – where the dream fulfilled collides with the hard reality of the business. Get ready for that.
Good to GO is a documentary series that will provide you with unequalled access to the lives of the filmmakers on their journey to fulfilling a dream. Filmmaking can be lonely, frustrating work punctuated by moments of sheer madness, and like a birth, it is exhilarating, euphoric, and wonderfully intense.
The Pitch: Eight short listed teams have assembled to pitch their ideas. Each team will have less than thirty minutes to sell their project, and themselves, to the selection committee. Each team runs its own race, but only the selection committee can determine the finish line.
The pitch teams have been promised a quick decision. It’s what they want, but the selection committee struggles with the variety, the volume and the value of the projects. Seven of the eight teams didn’t win. They knew the odds going in.
The Winning Team: The script is ready, stripped down to reflect the limited budget. With just 15 weeks prep, shoot and edit, can the director make his ‘film’, and not the TV movie he fears it will become?
Rough and Tumble Business: Art versus business, creative versus commerce. It is the eternal struggle in the movie industry, between the director meeting his needs and the producers meeting their budget
The classic movie formula, get a million dollars, make a movie. Easy, right? Ask the Producer and Director. Do they have enough material on film to actually make the movie work? Visit the Good to Go Web Page for more info.

Family Tree Narrative

Family Tree Narrative
6x1/2 hr Doc Series
APTN, SCN, Book Television

Produced by Martin de Valk

Directed and Edited by Martin de Valk

Assu of Cape Mudge - The Assu family—their name meaning “a father that’s highly respected”—descend from Chief Billy Assu, the last hereditary chief of the We Wai Kai band (Kwakwaka’wakw) in Cape Mudge, a tiny community on the southwest shore of BC’s Quadra Island. Donald Assu, his siblings and children discuss the continued importance of the potlatch ceremony to their family and their people—its history, its songs, the poetic and ancient language of big-house orators, and thepassing on of traditional names.

Marchand of the Okanagan - The Okanagan people are a nation running through two countries. The Marchand family came to their BC home when their grandmother Mary Ann rode up from Washington State by horseback. Len Marchand, his sister Pauline Chiba and her daughter Valerie share the stories of their ancestors who farmed, fished, gardened, picked berries and sold cordwood to sustain the family. Len, who became the country’s first Native MP as part of Trudeau’s 1968 election team, discusses his grandmother’s influence on his sense of identity and how starkly it contrasted with the public image of his people at that pivotal point in Canadian history.

Lavallee of the Piapot - From his home on the Piapot reserve in the Qu’Appelle Valley of Saskatchewan, medicine man Ray Lavallee has spent his life preserving and sharing the spiritual traditions of his Cree ancestors. He talks about his reverence for his grandfather, who could communicate with spirits, and his grandmother, whose work as a medicine woman focused on delivering babies. He gathers many of his medicines on the patch of virgin prairie that he and his wife Tillie have nurtured.

Dorion of Prince Albert and Cumberland House - Leah Dorion and her aunts Isabelle Impey and Elsie Sanderson can follow the roots of their Saskatchewan family back 10 generations, all the way to the ville du Québec in the 1600s. In the process, Leah has discovered the great mobility of her Métis ancestors, who not only migrated across Canada but also travelled widely through the U.S. These women relate the details of a complicated lineage that has seen some branches of the family become Treaty Indians while others did not; the mixing of bloodlines as diverse as Cree, French, Ojibwa, Yankton Sioux and Iowa; and the tale of a First World War vet who was removed from treaty when he returned from the front.

Hungry Wolf of the Blood Tribe - Beverly Hungry Wolf, author of The Ways of My Grandmothers, is a member of the Blood Tribe of the Blackfoot people. Her traditional home in southern Alberta is just under Chief Mountain on land chosen by Chief Red Crow. Beverly and her family discuss the significance of beaver bundles for their people’s healing and spiritual traditions, the importance of learning one’s history, and their community’s renewed interest in their ancestors’ way of life.

Dion of the Kehewin - Joe Dion, Florence Buffalo and Madeline Dion, of the Kehewin Reserve in Alberta’s northeast corner, can trace their family line back to the venerable Cree chief Big Bear. Joe talks about his visit with the Queen during the Alberta Centennial, as head of a delegation seeking redress for Treaty 6. He explains that he didn’t want to see the constitution repatriated without Native rights
being enshrined. His sister Madeline, widely recognized for her work on women’s health issues, discusses the systematic erasing of memory that her people have had to overcome. Florence explains her sense of responsibility to her children in passing on family lore.

Flight of Bird

Flight of Bird
1x 1hr Doc
Knowledge Network

Produced by Martin de Valk

Directed and Edited by Martin de Valk

In 1940 Costa Rica boasted over three million hectares of natural forest. By 1983, less than a third remained - most if it lost to extensive cattle grazing after the World Bank injected big money into the country's beef industry.

Among the many people who have worked to reduce this trend is Canadian Dirk Brinkman who, in 1995, brought his team of silviculture experts to the clearcuts of Costa Rica.

Using investment from friends and family, they purchased a small tract of deforested tropical land to begin a reforestation experiment with teak and mixed native species. With that, the BIRD project - Brinkman International Reforestation Development - took off. It's goals: to create an entreprenurial driven, self-sustaining enterprise that drew on Canada's expertise in reforestation and created employment for locals.

Ten years later, Martin de Valk's fascinating documentary tracks the resounding success of BIRD. Forestry and resource management experts from the Technological Institute of Costa Rica and Earth University share their excitement over the ecological benefits of this unique project. With several initiatives underway, the BIRD team has reforested over 500 hectares, provided silviculture training and employment to the local people, established an elementary school for employees' children, and developed native tree species into a potentially viable and sustainable commercial product.

WITHIN THE WALLS: A STORY OF HEALING

Within the Walls
1 x 1/2hr Doc
APTN

Produced by Martin de Valk

Directed and Edited by Martin de Valk

A Half Hour Documentary incorporating B&W images and the voices from the Native Brotherhood.

Today, there is a disproportionate number of First Nations people incarcerated in the prison system.  Once in prison, many Aboriginal inmates are introduced to the Native Brotherhood.  It is within the Brotherhood that many begin their journey on the Red Road . . . the good road . . . the road to healing. 

On The Red Road

2 x 1/2hr Doc

The follow-up story to Within the Walls.

Directed by Martin de Valk

Forgotten Legacy: Spirit of Reclamation

Forgotten Legacy
1x 1hr Doc
APTN

Produced by Martin de Valk

Directed and Edited by Martin de Valk

One hundred years ago, the Fraser River gold rush opened the door for thousands of Euro-Americans seeking their fortune. For the Indigenous people of British Columbia, the overnight stampede triggered the ebb of the Native way of life forged on barter and trade.

A Forgotten Legacy explores the participation and adaptability of British Columbia's Native People as a new economy overtook the land. Although their traditional cultural practices and beliefs were denigrated, these indigenous people nevertheless brought their skills and knowledge to the emerging workforce. This is a story of the overwhelming contribution made by Native workers, labourers and entrepreneurs to a burgeoning British Columbia.