The View From Up Here is a six-part “found footage” documentary series that takes a satirical look at historical themes and events in a remote region of Canada. The series is centred on the Lakehead, the Thunder Bay region at the head of the Great Lakes. It is presented in a talk show format by a host who provides a Canadian perspective on local, national and world history in the twentieth century. The host for the series is historian, researcher, writer, and amateur thespian, Tom Peotto, a resident of the Lakehead with an unfiltered view of his hometown. The primary visual sources for the series are local news clips from CKPR TV shot between 1958 and 1978, archival film footage from the region, and artifacts from the Thunder Bay Museum.

The View From Up Here is the creation of Ron Harpelle and Kelly Saxberg, who, together with a team of writers, filmmakers, and animators, bring everyday life in “small town” Canada to the world. The series is an extension of a public history project called Reel Memories of the Lakehead, which saw the digitization and indexing of 235 hours of clips from the local news.