- Welcome to POV.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
It's a common story.
A huge global corporation
makes a big announcement to bring jobs to a community
and the residents allow themselves
to make ambitious plans and dream of a prosperous future,
only to discover it was all an empty promise.
Tonight's film, Winter's Yearning,
is about just such a situation
and reveals how the hopes of an entire town
can be squashed.
Maniitsoq, Greenland is a small fishing village
of about 2,500 citizens,
founded as a trading post in the 1700s,
known primarily for trading reindeer hides.
The town has lost over 15% of its population
in the last two decades due in part to a lack of jobs.
So in 2006, when Alcoa announced it chose the small village
as the location to construct an aluminum smelting plant,
the residents of Maniitsoq were optimistic.
The plant was to be the largest ever industrial project
in the nation's history
and was supposed to create up to 700 jobs for Greenlanders.
The people of Maniitsoq, however,
waited and waited and it never happened.
Winter's Yearning follows three of these residents
over the course of the stalled project
and its eventual collapse.
The story may sound bleak but ultimately,
as you'll see tonight,
hope can spring from the unlikeliest of places.
Co-directors Sidsev Torstholm Larsen and Sturla Pilskog
describe themselves as visual anthropologists.
They share an interest in issues facing people
primarily in northern countries.
This is their feature film directorial debut.
Now, let's all take a trip
to the ice-covered nation of Greenland
and meet three of its most resilient residents
in a film the Hollywood Reporter calls
'well crafted and eye opening.'
Winter's Yearning starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
Your home for independent film.