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Legends Are Made Here

The circumpolar north is a vast, diverse, extreme and nuanced environment in anticipation of much environmental, social and political change. This project focuses on discovering the unpretentious character of the North and those who call it home. Rather than cook up a story, Legends is cautious in allowing the narrative to organically reveal itself through personal connection. This direction is a way of promoting authenticity but also to ensure that in the overwhelming splendor, there remains a conscientious presence. Extensive research was conducted in several remote locations throughout Alaska and the circumpolar North and are referenced in this film in a manner that avoids the obvious while providing an aesthetic document of the present.

  • Derek Coté
    Director
    Bardo
  • Anchorage Museum
    Producer
  • Sean Farnsworth
    Assistant Director/2nd camera
  • Paul Haas
    Composer
  • Kurt Riemann/Surreal Studios
    Recordist/Mixing
  • Derek Coté
    Sound Design
    Bardo
  • Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
    Soundtrack
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 6, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    7,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Open Art Film Festival
    Dusseldorf
    Germany
    european
    finalist Best Fine Art/Documentary
Director Biography - Derek Coté

As a frustrated architect, explorer, and aspiring social examiner, Derek Coté received his MFA in sculpture and extended media at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has exhibited nationally and internationally including exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Tacoma Art Museum, Art Museum of the University of Memphis, Houston Center for Photography, Exit Art, AC Institute and Roebling Hall in New York City, Marmara University in Istanbul, Marc DePuechredon Gallery in Basel and Kunsthaus Rhenania in Cologne. Coté has received a professional artist fellowship from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, research and support grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Pollock Krasner Foundation, the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation and the Foundation for Contemporary Art. Additionally Coté and has been a resident artist at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, The Arctic Circle expedition and the Anchorage Museum’s Polar Lab.

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Director Statement

As a curious person, I am drawn to documentary for its narrative quality. But as a trained sculptor, I tend to look at the world in a structurally abstract manner. The films I am interested in making are scant documents of places that are on the fringe of society. 'Bardo:' is the first installment of a three film series based in the Arctic regions of a transforming planet.