Merit Motion Pictures and co-producers, Capa Presse/Films à Cinq, are proud to announce Kingdom of the Polar Bears’ nominations for the Barbara Sears Award for Best Visual Research and the Rob Stewart Award for Best Science or Nature Documentary Program or Series at the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards.

Kingdom of the Polar Bears is a two-part documentary series that tells the tale of a mother polar bear as she introduces her two newborn cubs to their icy world for the first time and also provides some surprising evidence for how these animals are adapting to the change.

Directed by Alexis Barbier-Bouvet, Kingdom of the Polar Bears features veteran polar bear guide Dennis Compayre (Polar Bear Town) as he prepares for an epic journey to follow polar bears for an entire year and find out how they survive despite treacherous conditions and a changing climate.

“This production was one of our biggest challenges,” says Merit Jensen Carr, the film’s producer. “Filming in the arctic is not an easy task and the pandemic impacted the final stretch of shooting.”

Four years in the making, Kingdom of the Polar Bears’ crew battled -40º weather to capture a mother polar bear’s journey from the ancestral birthing dens to the Hudson Bay. The film includes rarely seen wild polar bear hunting behaviour and reveals new science indicating they may be adapting to climate change.

Canadian Screen Week 2022 begins Monday, April 4 and concludes with a broadcast on April 10.

Kingdom of the Polar Bears is a Canada/France co-production produced by Merit Motion Pictures, CAPA Presse/Films à Cinq, ARTE France, Terra Mater Factual Studios, association with Earth Touch, Two Wise Monkeys, Wolfhouse, National Geographic Channels and CBC’s The Nature of Things with the participation of the Canada Media Fund, Bell Media, Manitoba Film and Music, Manitoba Film Production Tax Credit, Canadian Film and Video Production Tax Credit, and Rogers Documentary Fund, with the support of the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée and the Churchill Regional Economic Development Fund.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Jennifer Jensen-Tracy, Communications & Marketing
jennifer@meritmotionpictures.com
Cell: +1 (226) 387-4067

Ophélie Petit, Social and Publicity Coordinator
ophelie@meritmotionpictures.com
Cell: +1 (204) 951-1959

February 16, 2022