North of North comedy creators Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Stacey Aglok MacDonald will receive the Breakthrough Award at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Canada gala event on May 28.
The creative duo are showrunners and executive producers for the Netflix, CBC and APTN series set in Canada’s Arctic and around its tight-knit Inuit culture. The comedy — led by Anna Lambe as Siaja, a 20-something Inuit woman making her way as a plucky civil servant after a spontaneous and very public breakup with her entitled husband — is now in its second season.
“Beyond North of North, Arnaquq-Baril and Aglok MacDonald have consistently demonstrated the ability to bring bold, original perspectives to the screen while creating space for underserved voices and communities to be seen and heard. It is this combination of vision, impact, and forward momentum that makes them such deserving recipients of this honor,” WIE Canada gala organizers said ahead of the prize-giving at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Toronto.
Before their success in scripted comedy, Aglok MacDonald and Arnaquq-Baril emerged from a background in documentaries, and between them have credits like the 2011 short Throat Song, the 2018 sports drama The Grizzlies, and Arnaquq-Baril having made her feature documentary debut with Angry Inuk.
The upcoming third annual WIE Canada summit will again bring together the Canadian industry across TV, film and music to celebrate and recognize the achievements of women leading the industry forward. The all-day event is attended by top homegrown producers, actors, musicians and execs.
Aglok MacDonald and Arnaquq-Baril join previously announced honorees, including Andrea Martin to receive the Icon Award and Malin Akerman picking up the Impact Award at the May 28 gala. Additional honorees and special guests will be announced in the coming weeks.
