Thunder Bay-born filmmaker turns eye to space for Artemis II music video

NASA is preparing to send humans — including a Canadian — to the moon for the first time in more than five decades, and the mission has also given a Thunder Bay-born filmmaker her own "Kubrick moment."

The Artemis II mission could launch as early as next week. It will send four astronauts, including Canadian Jeremy Hanson, on a 10-day trip around the moon. While the craft won't touch down, it will conduct surveillance, testing, and experiments in preparation for Artemis III, which will return humans to the lunar surface in the coming years.

The mission is being celebrated by Canadian singer-songwriter Emm Gryner, through a new song called Touch the Sky.

And filmmaker Laura-Lynn Petrick, who was born in Thunder Bay, directed, shot, and edited the music video.

"It's truly an honor," Petrick told CBC News. "I'm obsessed with space and science fiction in general, so this just feels like my Stanley Kubrick moment."

"And also it's such a unifying mission," she said. "I feel like it's gonna really ... show what we can accomplish."

The video was shot in the fall. Some was filmed near Thunder Bay, at Belluz Farms, with local actor Leo James Durocher, who portrays a younger version of Hansen.

The remainder was shot in Sarnia, featuring Gryner performing at a piano.

"It really came through friendship," Gryner said of the song. "I became friends with Catherine Hansen, who's Jeremy's wife, and we talked loosely about there being a song for his upcoming moon mission."

"When you talk about stuff like that, it just seems so far in the future," she said. "I didn't really know that I could get it together, but I put together a team of super talented people, some people I've always wanted to work with."

"I think it came out really well."

The project also gave Petrick and Gryner a chance to work together, something they'd been discussing for about a year.

"We were planning to work together on a music video and some visuals for her new music, and we were kind of going through different song options," Petrick said. "Then eventually in the fall, this song was written with some of her collaborators and we decided it was the perfect match because of my connection to, I guess, just landscapes and Canada."

In addition to Durocher and Gryner, the video also includes footage from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency captured during other space missions, and Hansen's training.