Canada's Best Film Ever is made by Inuit!
Atanarjuat The Fast Runner by Inuit director Zacharias Kunuk has been named Canada's best film of all time by the Toronto International Film Festival.
A survey of Canadian filmmakers, critics, academics, programmers and other industry professionals on the top 10 Canadian films of all time awarded Atanarjuat with first place, a position previously held by Claude Jutra's Mon oncle Antoine.
TIFF has polled the industry every ten years since 1984. The 2004 Top Ten list ranked Atanarjuat at number 5. A decade later, the film has jumped to the top of the list, "a tribute to the film's unique approach to storytelling, its intense specificity, and its powerful universality" explains Steve Gavetock, TIFF senior programmer.
An historic event for the international film industry, this is the first time Canada or any First World country has named an indigenous-language film as its Best Film Ever.
By a June 2008 Canadian court-ordered settlement agreement, all international sales rights to Atanarjuat The Fast Runner held by Cinemavault Releasing were returned to Isuma Distribution International Ltd.
International sales inquiries for Atanarjuat, the full Fast Runner Trilogy, and other films by Zacharias Kunuk can be directed to Isuma Distribution International.
The Fast Runner Trilogy is also available for streaming and VOD to viewers around the world on IsumaTV here.
