CBC Greenlights The Council
(March 16, 2016 – Toronto, ON) – CBC has announced the launch of a new series set in an unlikely location, Canada’s high north. Its working title is The Council and it comes from the fertile mind of one of Canada’s most successful television writers, Montreal-born René Balcer. The Council is set against the unfolding drama of a changing planet and draws inspiration from the true-to-life fight over the vast and valuable resources of the Arctic. The series traces the journey of two cops who uncover a small-town murder that is at the heart of a global conspiracy. Production kicks off this summer, shooting in Resolute, Iqaluit (pictured), London, Copenhagen and Manitoba and will debut with 10 episodes on CBC-TV this fall.
René Balcer is a 20-year veteran of the Law & Order franchise, beginning as a writer and rising to executive producer and showrunner. In 2001, he left the series to create the show’s spinoff Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which he developed with creator Dick Wolf. He is also the creator of the international drama JO. Balcer has won an Emmy® Award, Peabody Award, a Writers Guild of America Award and four Edgar Awards for his television work.
Known for his ability to weave complex mysteries with character-based drama, Balcer has had a lifelong interest in the Arctic and its indigenous culture. “The Arctic has engaged my imagination since I was a kid reading stories about the Inuit, and then as a college student working construction at the mouth of the Mackenzie River. The Council is a story where the stakes are as high as they come, about a land and a people who are the bellwether of our survival on this planet,” said Balcer. “It’s an exciting mystery and a political intrigue set against a wide canvas — climate change, indigenous extinction, competition for resources. As a story-teller, I couldn’t ask for more.”
The Council is being produced by Lark Productions (Motive), with executive producers Louise Clark and Erin Haskett, in partnership with Keston International Productions’ executive producers Trevor Walton and Denis Coyne. The series is a Canada/UK Co-Production, with Nick O’Hagan’s London-based Giant Films Ltd. NBCUniversal International Distribution retains all distribution rights.
“We are delighted to be partnering with such a strong team to bring Canadian audiences this riveting and relevant drama series,” said Sally Catto, general manager, programming at CBC Television. “It is an honour to be working with the remarkably talented René Balcer, who brings his unique voice and passion for the subject matter to shine a light on the Canadian north.”
The series begins on the edge of the Arctic frontier during the endless days of the polar summer when a young woman, a renowned environmentalist, is found ritualistically murdered near the Canadian hamlet of Resolute. An investigation is mounted by the local RCMP inspector Mickey Behrens, an outsider and new-comer to the north who is running from a derailed personal and professional life, and her partner, officer Jo Ullulaq. A soulful counterpoint to Mickey, Jo is torn between the duty to his job and loyalty to his Inuit culture. The pair quickly discovers that the mystery extends far beyond the borders of the town and to the backrooms of Canadian parliament in Ottawa, the dark corridors of U.S. intelligence in Washington, D.C., the halls of European parliament in Brussels, the airbases of world powers, and the migrant conflicts at the border of Norway and Russia. Yet it all traces back to the Arctic, as they gradually expose a complex international conspiracy to control the vast natural resources at the top of the world.
“René Balcer has created an intriguing mystery and dynamic characters stemming from his personal connection to the north and the Inuit culture. This story, emanating from a little known but much discussed part of our world, will resonate with Canadians and have world-wide appeal,” said Louise Clark, executive producer of The Council.
Ralph Lucas is the founder and Publisher of Northernstars.ca. He began writing about film while in radio in Montreal in the mid-1970s. 
difficult [to work independently],” she said. With Fine Feathers (1968), Lambart finally stepped out from behind her mentor’s shadow. It was a revelation. For 20 years, she had acceded to McLaren’s more subdued appetite for colour. Given free rein on her own film, Lambart announced herself in a blaze of blues and reds. She also exchanged the protractor and ruler for scissors and paper. “I was fascinated with cutouts,” she says. “Mathematics, computing films like Lines—Horizontal, were a dead end.”
This article was originally published in Issue 24, Summer 1999, of the magazine Take One: Film and Television in Canada. Northernstars acquired the digital archives of Take One in 2007.
La passion d’Augustine
103 minutes – Drama
Release date: March 20, 2015
DVD release date: June 23, 2015
Canadian distributor: Les Films Séville
Set in Québec in the 1960s, during those years often described as The Quiet Revolution, Simone Beaulieu has risen to become Mother Augustine, the head of a small convent on the edge of the town of Richelieu. Passionate, resilient, Mother Augustine puts all her energy and her musical talent into her students. When her niece Alice entrusted to her, she learns the girl is not only a new piano prodigy, but a young woman whose aspirations are in tune with the times, which are less than peaceful. The school, despite its small size, is a musical gem that can sweep all the major piano prizes. Morning, noon and night, the large corridor to the main staircase resonates with music, everything from waltzes by Chopin to Bach inventions. But when the Quebec government introduces a public education system, the future of Mother Augustine, her Sisters and beloved students is threatened.
La passion d’Augustine won Best Film at the first Gala du cinéma québécois in March 2016.
Lyse Lafontaine
François Tremblay
Léa Pool
Léa Pool
Marie Vien
Daniel Jobin
Michel Arcand
François Dompierre
Patrice Bengle
Michèle Hamel
Valérie Blais
Shauna Bonaduce
Céline Bonnier
Anne-Élisabeth Bossé
Danielle Fichaud
Maude Guérin
Alexandre L’heureux
Andrée Lachapelle
Yogane Lacombe
Marie-France Lambert
Diane Lavallée
Tiffany Montambault
Lysandre Ménard
Nico Racicot
Pierrette Robitaille
Gilbert Sicotte
Marie Tifo
Soeur Claude
Françoise
Mère Augustine
Soeur Huguette
Soeur Saint-Donat
Marguerite
Journaliste de la presse écrite
Mère Marie-Stéphane
Marie-Louise
Madame Thompson
Soeur Lise
Carole
Alice
Sacha Berkovitch
Soeur Onésime
L’aumônier
La Générale