IsumaTV First Online Film Festival is Now Closed 

Isuma Distrbution International has proud to present the IsumaTV First Online Film Festival from March 2 to April 1, 2015, bringing international and remote viewers an exciting and engaging online lineup of indigenous feature films, documentaries and shorts, with two world premieres, a selection from the TIFF Cinematheque, and a showcase collection of 40 Inuit films and videos.

Internationally acclaimed Inuit film director Zacharias Kunuk premiered his two latest documentary films.

Mixing scenes from 1994, 2002 and 2012, My Father's Land (Attatama Nunanga) looks at the meanings between Inuit history and modern mining in North Baffin Island; how new media is used to inform and consult Inuit leading up to the July 2012 Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) Final Public Hearings on Baffinland's $6 billion Mary River proposal to build the world's largest iron mine on Inuit land.

In Coming Home (Angirattut), Zacharias Kunuk follows an Inuit extended family homecoming voyage to a traditional site to celebrate their ancestors' history and life on the land, and to mourn the loss of modern relocation between worlds.

Also an exclusive at the festival was an important selection of indigenous cinema presented by the TIFF Cinematheque’s, "TIFF Northern Distribution Tour of First Peoples Cinema: 1500 Nations, One Tradition". This selection included:

FEATURE FILMS:

Busong (Palawan Fate)
Director: Auraeus Solito | Philippines | Palawonon with English subtitles | 2010 | 1 hour 33 minutes

Incident at Restigouche
Director: Alanis Obomsawin | Canada | English Mi’gmaq, French with English subtitles | 1984 | 45 minutes

On the Ice
Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean | USA | Iñupiaq with English subtitles | 2009 | 1 hour 36 minutes

Ten Canoes
Director: Rolf de Heer / Peter Djigirr | Australia | Yolngu Matha, English with English subtitles | 2006 | 1 hour 27 minutes

Tkaronto
Director: Shane Belcourt | Canada | English | 2007 | 1 hour 45 minutes

SHORT FILMS:

Bastion Point - Day 507
Director: Merata Mita, Leon Narbey, Gerd Pohlmann | New Zealand | English and Te Reo Maori with english subtitles | 1980 | 26 minutes

Black Out
Director: Jeff Barnaby | Canada | English | 2003 | 6 minutes

The Colony
Director: Jeff Barnaby | Canada | English | 2007 | 24 minutes

File Under Miscellaneous
Director: Jeff Barnaby | Canada | Micmac, English with English subtitles | 2010 | 7 minutes

From Cherry English
Director: Jeff Barnaby | Canada | English | 2004 | 10 minutes

Red Right Hand
Director: Jeff Barnaby | Canada | English | 2004 | 15 minutes

Due to copyright restrictions, films presented by TIFF Cinematheque were only available for streaming in communities connected to an IsumaTV Mediaplayer.

IsumaTV Mediaplayers are installed in remote indigenous communities to create an independent network allowing some of the most isolated peoples in the world to share media content. The IsumaTV Mediaplayer is designed to allow remote communities to participate equally in a world driven by media, in their own language and in the immediacy of our times.

Available to worldwide viewers was an exciting selection presented in collaboration with the Government of Nunavut Department of Culture and Heritage, showcasing a special selection of Inuit films hosted on IsumaTV, including youth projects, short films and the award winning documentary Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change by Zacharias Kunuk and researcher and filmmaker Dr. Ian Mauro. These films remain available year round to IsumaTV viewers!

We envision this as an Annual Event to showcase Indigenous films, documentaries and media, so keep posted for news on the 2016 IsumaTV Second Online Film Festival.

For more information:

Cara Di Staulo
info@isuma.tv
1.514.486.0707                                                                                                                                                               Read full 2015 festival launch press release here