Mammal

This feature documentary takes viewers “on the land” with elders and hunters to explore the social and ecological impacts of a warming Arctic.  Directed by Zacharias Kunuk and reseacher/filmmaker Dr Ian Mauro.  

LONG SYNOPSIS

Circa 1840. Two isolated families meet after many years. It is summer; a happy time to celebrate their reunion. Despite the joyful mood, Ningiuq, an old woman of strength and wisdom, cannot stop worrying. Is it the illness of her best friend, Kutuguk, who is preparing to die? Or is it the strange foreign object that Maniq, her favourite grandson, found on the beach?… Leer más

Episode about the dogs used in dogteaming.

Producer's Name: Paul Angilirq

Country: Canada

Region: Qimaivvik

Episode about walrus hunting.

Producer's Name: Zacharias Kunuk

Year of Production: 1989

Country: Canada

In 1953, Inuit families were forcibly relocated to the uninhabited and inhospitable high arctic, 1500 kilometres north of their traditional homeland of Nunavik, in northern Québec, to extend Canadian claims of sovereignty to Ellesmere Island. Inuit endured families torn apart and many years of hardship.… Leer más

Episode about Igloolikmuit.

Producer's Name: Paul Apak

Year of Production: 2009

Country: Canada

Rooted in tradition, adoption is a reality that all Inuit families have experienced. In Inuit culture, adopting a child from a relative, friend or acquaintance is a common practice. Marie-Hélène Cousineau, the adoptive mother of Alexandre Apak, lived in Igloolik, a small island southwest of Baffin Island in the Arctic, for many years.

YEAR OF PRODUCTION: 1996
DURATION: 6 min
GENRE: Computer animation
FORMAT: Video (colour)
LANGUAGE: Inuktitut Eng/Fr st.
CAST/PERFORMERS: Madeline Ivalu
DIRECTOR: Mary Kunuk
PRODUCER: Arnait Video Collective… Leer más

This second Isuma-Artcirq co-production by Igloolik youth is a story about a young Inuk who lost his love. Using alcohol to put reality and the past behind, the past keeps hunting him. When he loses control and beats up a man on the street he is sentenced to two months in an outpost camp, where a hunter is waiting for him. 

Nunaqpa is the second Isuma recreated fiction, filmed with actors in 1990 recreating a Summer caribou hunt in the 1930's. For Igloolik Inuit, it is the time of Nunaqpa, 'going inland,' the long walk in search of summer-fat caribou to catch enough meat for the hard winter ahead. Two families leave for the hunt, while the old couple and grandmother wait by the shore for their return.

In June 2003, Cannes prize-winner Zacharias Kunuk's family gathered at their traditional home camp site of Siuraajuk, to share stories and honor the ancestors who came before them: a wedding; a burial; messages from the past.

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Inuit memories and experiences of shamanism, and oral histories about the last shamans practicing in the region of Igloolik, Nunavut. Interviewees range from young people to elders and politicians, but they all share a belief that things happen, and that shamanism is still a living religion.

In Qimuksik (Dog Team) one family travels in the immense and beautiful arctic during spring. Inuaraq teaches his young son how to survive in the old way: driving the dogs, building the igloo, catching seals on the open water, running down caribou to feed the family.    

Igloolik, Fall 1945. Grandmother remembers the old way. In autumn 1945, five families build a stone house to prepare for the coming winter.

Nunavut (Our Land) Episode 3: Qarmaq (Stone House), Igloolik Isuma Productions 1995, Filmmakers: Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn, Pauloosie Qulitalik. Inuktut w/Eng s-t.

Igloolik, Fall 1945. Even here, news of the terrible world war raging outside makes people frightened and uneasy. They talk of the danger of the unknown future, of shamanistic intervention to protect their culture.

Igloolik, Fall 1945. Akkitiq wakes up to a nice day for seal hunting. The stone house is warm and comfortable. Men pack up the dog team and look for seals on the fresh ice,while women work at home. Sometimes, the squabbling of children leads to trouble among families.