Rachael Grantham
Rachael Grantham lived in the Yukon for nineteen years and worked as a professional musician, conductor and teacher.1) In 1994, she took leadership of the Whitehorse Community Choir when Andrew (Jim) Wilhelm-Boyles moved away. She led the choir until 2005, with a break for education.2) In 1998, she was heavily involved in the Whitehorse music community and was narrating a musical called Voices of the Klondike, which toured from Skagway to Dawson. Rachael’s partner, Richard Lawrence, filmed the choir portion of the musical and that served as their introduction to the filming business.3)
Richard and Rachael started their independent production company, Elsa Entertainment, in 1998. Neither had experience or training in film. Since 1999, they have produced an impressive body of film work, the vast majority of which has been produced in the Yukon. Their first real film was a documentary called Lost Cabin: Jack London's home in the Klondike. Their second film was the experimental Me, music (2002). Snowbirth is a classical music video short produced for CBC's Opening Night program. It featured three local musicians and also showed Donald Watt and Gisli Balzer creating a snow sculpture of the nativity scene. Mother's Day (2005) was shown at two significant film festivals: the National Screen Institute Film Exchange in Winnipeg and the Toronto Canadian Film Centre. Mother's Day was a springboard for the 15-minute smallfilm that had a $150,000 budget funded mainly by the Canada Council for the Arts but with funds also from the Yukon Sound and Film Commission and a local investor. It was the first Yukon 35-milimeter film and was intended for theatrical release. It was shot in Toronto and features Dolby Digital Surround and used professional actors Henry Woolf and Jean Boht. Lawrence spent two years writing the script and a year in production and post-production before sending it out to festivals in 2007.4)
Lawrence and Grantham relocated to Western Shore, Nova Scotia just south of Halifax in 2007.5) Making the film put them so far in debt that they had to sell their Whitehorse house.6) In 2009, Grantham returned to the Yukon as the Yukon Government Privacy Compliance Specialist and continued to lead Whitehorse choir events.