Winnipeg Arts Council

The Challenges of Giving Shelter

The Challenges of Giving Shelter gives a behind the scenes look at the daily workings of the Winnipeg Humane Society shelter. This is a world of dedicated animal lovers faced with difficult decisions, where sympathetic staff and volunteers manage their compassion fatigue and community expectations to care for cute, cuddly, at times dangerous and homeless animals.

The film gives a better understanding of the people who work on the front lines of this unique facility to offer medical treatment, foster care and adoption services for animals. The daily intake of animals is performed with a ritual of humane care, but the constant dilemma of overpopulation raises the issue of euthanizing animals. The film explores the personal aspects of work, societal responsibility and the challenges of providing humane treatment to animals.Ω

Kevin Nikkel

Kevin Nikkel is a filmmaker / curator / educator based in Winnipeg, Canada. He completed a Bachelor of Education at University of Manitoba and a Master of Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. His dramatic, animated and documentary films have played internationally at festivals, on television and on the web. He has curated & presented on film to venues across Canada and internationally. His recent film work has focused primarily on historical documentaries most notably the curatorial & documentary film project dealing with Hudson’s Bay Company’s silent feature film from 1920, the Romance of the Far Fur Country. He juggles his time between filmmaking, parenting, and teaching.

The Challenges of Giving Shelter by Kevin Nikkel

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