Former Frontiersman employee helps win regional Emmy

Former Frontiersman designer and life-long Mat-Su Valley resident was part of the team that was honored with a NATAS Northwest Regional Emmy in June for their Arctic Slope Regional Corp. documentary titled “True North, the Story of ASRC.”

Kristy Thom-Bernier, executive vice president of Brilliant Media Strategies in Anchorage, began her work on “True North” three-and-a-half years ago as a contract with ASRC which been a client to her company for years. Bernier juggled the titles of editor, producer and creative director during those three years, but her work involved all sorts of things including script writing, rewriting, research, setting up interviews, and editing and reviewing footage.

The hour-long documentary tells the history of ASRC and it’s founders as well as their part in the development of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in the 1970s. Footage was taken on native lands with helicopters, drones and traditional cameras, and Bernier regrets that some of it will never be seen by the public.

“I have binders and binders and binders of information and research, and we have such an incredible amount of footage here that we collected over that three-and-a-half years, that never even made it into the 58 minutes and 30 seconds of the documentary,” Bernier said.

Bernier felt that the project furthered her knowledge of videography, storytelling and coordination, but she was also excited to learn about such a rich part of Alaskan history. The team, which also included Ty Hardt, Tara Sweeney, Debra Reinwand and John Conn, spent hours interviewing ASRC founders and some of the attorneys that were involved in bringing about ANCSA.

“I learned so much working on this project that I never learned in school. About how everything happened and the process, and about a state that is so big,” she said.

One of Bernier’s favorite memories from the project was when the team flew to Seattle to interview an attorney named Bill Van Ness. The son of the interviewee pulled her aside and thanked her for doing the project because he had never heard the stories his father was telling on camera.

“He said that he knew his dad was busy the whole time he was growing up, and his dad was always going to work and... was always saying he worked on something important,” said Bernier. “He never knew exactly what his father was involved in until we sat down with him for a full eight hours of shooting at their offices in Seattle.”

Van Ness passed away before the film was complete, but ASRC gave his family all the interview footage beforehand. Bernier still gets emotional when she recalls that memory, and even when she watches the film now.

“I still get goosebumps when I watch the first few minutes,” she said.

The ASRC documentary team never expected to win the Emmy in June, but the surprise was incredible for them, according to Bernier. To her however, all the credit goes to her client.

“Just being nominated is an honor, but it was really incredible, and I was really happy for our client ASRC,” she said.

The film can be viewed at asrc.com or through Vimeo by typing “True North, the Story of ASRC” in to the search bar.