The Vogue Cinema doesn’t get too many world premieres, but this Sunday the Sackville cinema will host the first ever screening of a new documentary by Moncton filmmaker and Mt A grad Anas Nannis. PEEP: The Great Migration tells the story of the semi-palmated sandpiper, and its amazing annual journey from the arctic to Brazil, with a weeks long re-fueling stop in the Bay of Fundy.

Nannis says the nature documentary was one of the hardest projects he’s worked on, and involved roughly 30 full days of waiting for the right moments to film at various locations such as Johnson’s Mills, just outside of Dorchester. He also had to contend with Bay of Fundy winds, and the need to keep his distance from his subjects.

“If I get close to them to get my nice shot, it defeats the whole purpose of the documentary,” says Nannis.

While sandpipers are in the Bay of Fundy, they are feeding and resting, packing on enough weight to help them make the 72-hour journey to Brazil. One of the goals of the documentary is “to educate people on not getting close to them, giving them the space they need when they want to rest,” says Nannis.

The film was also challenging for Nannis in that it was his first with non-human subjects.

“It’s easier to get a story out of a person than it is out of a bird,” says Nannis. “We had to, as a team, [be] creative with the way we can deliver the series, and how can we keep the audience connected to the story?”

Nannis worked with Sackville local Sandy Burnett as narrator, and Sage Shaheen as director. Nannis says Burnett was a secret weapon when it came to pitching the project to Bell Media, not only as a voiceover talent, but also because of his experience and connections with the naturalist community.

While the production was bankrolled by Bell Media, Nannis felt it was important to bring it to the big screen in Sackville.

“It’s a big opportunity for me to showcase the amount of work that’s been put into this documentary,” says Nannis, “the amount of hours that Sandy and I and Sage put into this documentary.”

“Also, we wanted to give a first glimpse to the people we’ve interviewed, people that helped us through the filming. We invited all of them to have first look at the documentary before it goes live on Bell TV.”

PEEP: The Great Migration is screening at 2pm on Sunday at the Vogue Cinema in Sackville.

Here’s Anas Nannis in conversation with CHMA: