VANCOUVER -- "The Snow Walker," a C$10 million ($6.3 million) Canuck-financed pic starring Barry Pepper and Inuit newcomer Annabella Piugattuk, will be distributed by First Look Media in the U.S. and Lions Gate in Canada.

Based on Farley Mowat's book "Walk Well My Brother," pic concerns the struggle for survival of a pilot and his passenger after crashing in the Arctic tundra.

Shooting, which began in Merritt, B.C., in April, is scheduled to wrap in Churchill, Manitoba, on Aug. 27.

Story was adapted by actor-director Charles Martin Smith, and the pic is produced by Robert Merilees and William Vince of Michael Ohoven's Infinity Entertainment and Ellen Little of First Look Media.

Lions Gate Canada, Telefilm Canada, BC Film, the Harold Greenberg Fund and First Look Media have provided financing for the pic, which is skedded for release late next year.