| Paddle to the Sea | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Bill Mason |
| Screenplay by | Bill Mason |
| Based on | Paddle-to-the-Sea byHolling C. Holling |
| Produced by | Julian Biggs |
| Starring | Kyle Apatagen[1] |
| Narrated by | Stanley Jackson |
| Cinematography | Bill Mason |
| Music by | Louis Applebaum |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | National Film Board of Canada |
Release date |
|
Running time | 27 min 59 s |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70,913[2] |
Paddle to the Sea (French:Vogue-à-la-mer) is a 1966National Film Board of Canada shortlive-action film directed, shot and edited byBill Mason. It is based on the 1941 children's bookPaddle-to-the-Sea by American author and illustratorHolling C. Holling, and follows the adventures of a child's hand-carved toy Indian in a canoe as it makes its way fromLake Superior to theGulf of Saint Lawrence, through Canada's waterways. It was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the40th Academy Awards.[3][4][5]
While the story begins nearLake Nipigon, the launch scene was shot inGatineau Park. Other shooting locations included a staged forest fire atMeech Lake, with Mason torching spruce trees that he had installed along the shoreline, and the local fire department on standby. Mason and colleagueBlake James did not ask for permission to climb over the safety fence to film the sequence of the little boat going over theHorseshoe Falls: theyrappeled down to the water's edge, with James casting the boat into the water and Mason filming. The filmmaker taught himself to carve in order to make the boats, which had to be replaced when they drifted off at sea—or were lost over Niagara Falls.[5]
The film differs from the children's book in its inclusion of the problem ofwater pollution. While Holling's 1941 book focuses only on the geography and commercial importance of theGreat Lakes andSaint Lawrence River, Mason's film includes a sequence where the tiny boat must endure polluted waters, shot on Lake Superior nearMarathon, Ontario.[6]
To attend theAcademy Awards in Los Angeles, Mason drove down from Canada with a canoe on his car roof, stopping at rivers along the way. Today, theCanadian Museum of History has one of Mason's hand-carved canoe replicas; his family has several more.[5]
Season 1, Episode 1 (The Loop) ofTales from the Loop television series has the characters watchingPaddle to the Sea at 30:15.
