PGR Program

Inuit of the Igloolik region have been hunting walrus, incredibly large and sometimes dangerous animals, for thousands of years – caching and fermenting their meat for the long winter ahead. We first follow Zach on a winter hunt, as hunters venture out by snowmobile to the floe edge in search of walrus, and a more common summer hunt by boat.  

Hunting With My Ancestors, Episode 3, Dog Team Bear Hunt.

Hunting With My Ancestors Episode 2: Net Fishing Under the Ice, Isuma/Kingulliit Productions 2018, Director Zacharias Kunuk. Inuktut w/Eng s-t.

Inuit have hunted bowhead whales for thousands of years, using stone tools to hunt these 25 ton mammals. In 2016, Igloolik received a tag to harvest a bowhead; Zacharias Kunuk documents this hunt - from the selection of hunting captains and planning

Hunting With My Ancestors Episode 1: Bowhead Whale Hunt, Isuma, Kingulliit Productions 2017, Director Zacharias Kunuk.

Interview with Dana Moraes and Graham Richard

'I'm Alaskan Haida.'

'I have kind of an extensive language background. I've been either learning, documenting and teaching language for a little over a decade.'

'I'm a functional speaker.'

Interview with Dana Moraes and Graham

'I heard about the movie from the elders and my cousin.'

Interview with Dana Moraes and Graham Richard

'This particular script came to us very gradually. Very organically.'

'The script is based, or inspired by, traditional Haida stories.'

'Our story is definitely fiction but it's based in reality.'

'We went over and over and over that script so many times.'

'We consulted a lot.'

Interview with Dana Moraes and Graham Richard

‘I was born and raised in Skidegate’

‘I actually submitted a 50-pages story that I’ve written a long time ago. And that was too long and they wanted me to write something else but I didn’t get a chance to write anything else.’

National Inuit Youth Council President Ruth Kaviok presents at the Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples in Ottawa in 2018.

Interview with Dana Moraes and Graham Richard

"The language [Haida] has changed me"

Interview with Dana Moraes and Graham Richard

"What would we do if we couldn't speak Haida and we couldn't talk to our ancestors? That would be the scariest thing. But that will not happen now, I believe whole heartedly with the film and the 12 women that are going to be teachers."

Interview with Dana Moraes and Graham Richard

Interview with Dana Moraes and Graham Richard

“I was mostly intrigued by the Haida language. Being in front of the camera wasn’t so much the big push. It was the language part and the fact that it was all going to be done in Haida language.” K_uun Jaad

Interview with Dana Moraes and Graham Richard

"I thought it would be a really good experience learning how to speak X̱aaydaa Kil [Haida] and I thought it would be fun"

"It's so culturally involved and an inspiration for other Nations to do it."

"I think most people here would probably watch it by private showings."

Interview with Dana Moraes and Graham Richard

“I’m a cedar bark weaver. And I’ve been weaving since 2007. And I weave on a daily basis, minimum 4 hours a day.”

Interview with Dana Moraes and Graham Richard

"The language was easy; it was remembering that was the hard part"

"I'm a carver and I make carving tools for local carvers"

"I do a lot of weaving, a lot of hunting and fishing"

"This [knife] if similar to what was used on the film. Made by me."