David Ertel

Distribution and International Sales

Isuma Distribution International Inc.
5333 Avenue Casgrain #910
Montréal, QC CANADA
H2T 1X3
tel: +1.514.486.0707 / fax .9851
Norman Cohn, President: cohn@isuma.ca

Norman Cohn (b. 1946, New York) is secretary-treasurer and co-founder of Igloolik Isuma’s collective. Living since 1985 both in Igloolik and Montreal, Cohn developed with Kunuk, elder Pauloosie Qulitalik and the late Paul Apak, Isuma’s signature style of ‘re-lived' cultural drama, combining the authenticity of modern video with the ancient art of Inuit storytelling.

Pauloosie Qulitalik (b. 1939, Baffin Island) is Canada's first unilingual (Inuktitut-only) Inuk filmmaker, producing for IBC from 1990-92 and receiving a landmark Canada Council video production grant in 1992 as Isuma's producer for Saputi. A respected elder born in 1939, Qulitalik has served for many years as Chairman of Igloolik's Community Education Committee.… En savoir plus

Paul Apak Angilirq (1954-1998) was vice-president and co-founder of Isuma. Apak began his career in 1978 as a trainee in Canada's Inukshuk Project, the first project to train indigenous TV producers in remote communities. In 1981 Apak joined Inuit Broadcasting Corporation’s and in 1992 IBC honoured him with a Special Recognition Award for his career contribution.… En savoir plus

Zacharias Kunuk (b. 1957, Kapuivik near Igloolik) won the Camera d’Or at Cannes 2001 for Isuma’s first feature, Atanarjuat The Fast Runner. He is president and co-founder in 1990 of Igloolik Isuma Productions, Canada’s first Inuit-owned independent production company.… En savoir plus

Our Company

Igloolik Isuma Productions, Inc. was incorporated in January 1990 as Canada's first Inuit independent production company. Isuma is 75% Inuit-owned.… En savoir plus

Interviewed by Nancy Wachowich, currently professor at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Paul Apak died in December 1998, before the film was completed.

Norman Cohn (b. 1946, New York) is secretary-treasurer and co-founder of Igloolik Isuma’s collective.

514 years after Columbus 80% of the world’s indigenous people still live in remote rural communities beyond the range of conventional film distribution. Virtually invisible and excluded from modern communications services, a worldwide Aboriginal audience has no influence on the global film industry until it can contribute to the ‘gross box office’ that drives modern media priorities.

2007 is the International Polar Year. The U.S. and other national territories will have their own opportunities for festivals, museums, panel discussions and celebrity support.… En savoir plus

Beyond the Art-house: A National Event

In 2002 Atanarjuat the Fast Runner was a surprise international success. In the U.S. it grossed $3 million mostly in Landmark Theatres including 18 weeks at the Sunshine in New York and went on to wide DVD release by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment.… En savoir plus