A deep dive into the wildlife and their lifestyle off Vancouver Island’s west coast has landed Emmy awards for a local filmmaker.
Maxwel Hohn of the Comox Valley and his team at River Road Films and Wild Space productions were nominated for seven Emmys for “Island of the Sea Wolves.” Following the awards on Dec. 17, they are coming home with awards in Outstanding Cinematography, Outstanding Single Camera Editing, Outstanding Sound Mixing and Outstanding Writing Team for a Daytime Non-Fiction Program.
The three-part nature documentary highlights wildlife that lives on Vancouver Island and was filmed in 2021 during the pandemic. Main characters include the sea wolves, sea otters, marmots, black bears, orcas, herring, salmon and eagles.
According to Hohn, it is an incredible feeling to win the awards especially because it is so close to his backyard.
“It’s wildlife that surrounds where we live and a lot of the subjects were an hour to a three-hour drive from my home,” said Hohn. “It was a dream project to be a part of and we’re all just really buzzing with excitement.”
Hohn adds when you look at the whole production team, around 50 people were involved in making the film. Hohn says it was an interesting time to be filming as the pandemic prevented many other projects from going ahead.
“Where we were working was a really isolated location, so it was quite safe,” said Hohn. “It was like Vancouver Island was just home to the wildlife. It was really unique to go to beaches in Tofino and not see a single person on the beach.”
The filmes dives into the lifestyles of many different animals on the coast throughout the year. For Hohn, his favourite animal to capture was by far, sea otters.
“I really fell in love with them and their story. They’re a very difficult creature to film and it took a lot of intuitive engineering and a lot of time, and we ended up getting some pretty cool sequences and things that really haven’t been seen before,” said Hohn.
“They’ve got a special place in my heart, and I hope that I get the chance to film them again.”
On top of seeing the wildlife and documenting them in their natural habitat, Hohn says he learned how important it is to work as a team when making these types of films and to build an incredible story.
He thanks the team at River Road Films and Wild Space Productions and his camera assistants who helped him get all the necessary shots and hopes viewers enjoy the film.
