“Kina & Yuk: the ice foxes”, the latest film by Guillaume Maidatchevskij to which we already owe “Aïlo: an odyssey in Lapland” and “My cat and I, Rroû’s great adventure”, is a true story wildlife but also a complete educational adventure in the far north.
A fox adrift on a piece of ice saved by a fisherman is the true story that Guillaume Maidatchevskij discovered one day in a Canadian newspaper. From this news the director based a fairy tale about animals entitled “Kina & Yuk: the ice foxes”, released in theaters on December 27th.
Kina and Yuk, a pair of polar foxes ready to start a family, live peacefully on the ice floes of the Great American North. The temperature is abnormally mild and food is increasingly scarce, forcing Yuk to venture further and further afield to satisfy his needs.
Suddenly, a terrible crack caused by melting ice disrupts this majestic nature and separates the two foxes, each isolated on one end of the ice floe. They will have to face all the dangers and explore new territories in the hope of being reunited in time for the birth of their young.
>> Must see: the trailer for “Kina & Yuk: The Ice Foxes”
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A complicated bet
Director Guillaume Maidatchevsky’s appetite for the animal world is no secret. Trained first as a biologist, then as a journalist, the director loves to put animals at the center of his fiction films. A not so simple bet that requires a lot of documentation, as the filmmaker underlines on the Vertigo show on December 29th: “I spend a lot of time studying the behavior of animals. I’m not necessarily interested in the species, but in individual individuals. So I spent a lot of time studying Kina and Yuk’s behavior, to really understand their attitudes. I work with that, with their palette of games.”
The director starts from a classic film script, with a precise narration. “Afterwards I find myself with live animals. So I spend time redoing and undoing my scenario to move in their direction. I never force an animal, this is the golden rule. We adapt,” he emphasizes.
>> Listen: the interview with director Guillaume Maidatchevsky on the Vertigo show on December 29, 2023
Guest: Guillaume Maidatchevskij, “Kina & Yuk: Foxes of the Ice Floe” / Vertigo / 15 min. / Friday at 5.06pm
A technical and human challenge
Filming took place in the Yukon, northwestern Canada, in the same locations as the films “White Fang” (1991) and “Call of the Wild” (2020). In this part of the globe, the thermometer sometimes indicates temperatures close to minus forty, which makes this film both a technical and human challenge. “It’s really tough. Minus forty, you put your fingers outside, they freeze in a few minutes. It’s a physical challenge, we accepted it. It’s also a technical challenge, camera batteries that normally last an hour don’t just last ten minutes,” says the director.
“Kina & Yuk: Foxes of the Ice” was filmed in a natural setting that was as beautiful as it was challenging. And to tell this wonderful story, Guillaume Maidatchevskij chose the voice of actress Virginie Efira.
Comments collected by Pierre Philippe Cadert
Web adaptation: Lara Donnet
“Kina & Yuk: Foxes of the Ice Floe” by Guillaume Maidatchevsky, narrated by Virginie Efira. In French-speaking cinemas from 27 December 2023.
2024-01-04 08:46:40
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