PBS Acquires ‘One With The Whale’ Doc On Siberian Yupik Community

Jesse Whittock and Max Goldbart
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

EXCLUSIVE: PBS’s Independent Lens strand has acquired feature doc One with the Whale, spotlighting a Siberian Yupik community facing up to climate change and animal rights activists.

Co-directed by Pete Chelkowski (Life Below Zero – First Alaskans, Ocean Warriors) and environmental journalist Jim Wickens (Ecostorm), the doc was filmed over two years on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, and explores the traditions and customs, values and lifestyles of a tight-knit Yupik village known as Gambell.

More from Deadline

Being based on a small ice-covered island near the Bering Sea, the Yupiks have witnessed the increasingly damaging impact of climate change on their environment and way of life, while their centuries-old practices as traditional hunter gatherers have been attacked by online animal rights activists. The doc will follow the story of Chris Apassingok, a teenager and local hero who harpooned a 50-foot whale that fed the village for months. After his story emerged, he was bombarded by thousands of online hate messages and death threats from strangers, which prompted him to drop out of high school and, along with his family, consider how to balance Gambell’s traditions and needs with being an ‘modern American.’

Partnering with the community

Behind the doc are Native Movement, Vitamin Sea Productions and Actual Films, which also made An Inconvenient Sequel and Netflix’s Athlete A, in partnership with the village of Gambell, via Sivuqaq Inc. Several community members serve as producers, namely Yaari Walker, Aakapak Apassingok and Nalu Apassingok. Tracy Ricard, Justine Nagan, Bonni Cohen, and Bright West Entertainment’s Alex Lieberman and Gary Lieberman are the executive producers.

“We couldn’t imagine telling a story this personal about a family and community without having representatives from that community significantly involved in the production,” said Alex Lieberman, founder and producer of Bright West, which produced and financed the film. “As empathetic as Pete and Jim are to the environmental issues at hand, in order to authentically capture the experience of life in Gambell, it was vital to them that they partner and collaborate with the Alaska native community from the get-go.”

Lieberman said the impact of this partnership is “felt across every scene of the film.”

Bright West launched last year with Sirens, which debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The company’s next three films, Subject, On the Line: The Richard Williams Story and Rudy! A Documusical launched at Tribeca last year, with Lieberman executive producer on each film. Other recent premieres include The House Band, Red Herring and Phantom Parrot.

Lieberman described the current state of the doc market as “challenging” and said the U.S. writers strike won’t necessarily see a wealth of new documentaries commissioned.

“As the business matures, as it has over the past decade, distributors have a more robust understanding of what their audiences want to watch, and as a result, more and more boxes need to be checked by a film to satisfy these needs,” he added. “But that doesn’t mean you stop taking risks or stop believing in a great story’s ability to find an audience.”

Lieberman formerly led West Coast operations for Optomen Productions, the U.S. arm of the British All3Media indie. There he developed series, specials and presentations for PBS, Fox and Discovery among others. Further back he worked on MGM and Mark Burnett Productions’ development teams on unscripted shows such as ABC’s Steve Harvey’s Funderdome, Epic’s reboot of The Contender and MTV music competition show Signed.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.