New Film Festival Focuses on Canadian Seal Hunt

Docs on the Bay, a new documentary film festival to be held annually in Stephenville, is the first film festival in Atlantic Canada dedicated solely to the presentation and promotion of documentary cinema. Docs on the Bay will launch its festival with two documentary films by award-winning Newfoundland and Labrador filmmaker, Anne Troake, who will be in attendance. The first film is “My Ancestors Were Rogues and Murderers” (2005) and the second is “Up the Anti — Voices of Sealing People” (2007). The National Film Board of Canada said Rogues and Murderers is “a thoughtful contribution to the ongoing debate on Canada’s seal hunt, Newfoundland artist Anne Troake offers an insightful and beautifully crafted study of traditional Newfoundland outport culture.” This film received the Best Newfoundland Documentary Award at the 2005 Nickel Film Festival held in St. John’s