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Atanarjuat The Fast Runner

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Inuktitut
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Igloolik at the dawn of the first millennium, when nomadic Inuit were masters of the frozen arctic. Evil in the form of an unknown shaman divides a small community of Inuit, upsetting its balance and spirit. Twenty years pass. Two brothers emerge from the evil order: Amaqjuaq, the Strong One, and Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner. Atanarjuat wins the hand of the lovely Atuat away from the boastful son of the camp leader, Oki, who vows to get even. Oki ambushes the brothers in their sleep, killing Amaqjuaq, as Atanarjuat miraculously escapes running naked over the spring sea ice. But can he ever escape the cycle of vengeance left behind?

director: Zacharias KUNUK
screenplay: Paul APAK ANGILIRQ
photography: Norman COHN
editing: Zacharias KUNUK, Norman COHN, Marie-Christine SARDA
music: Chris CRILLY
art direction: James UNGALAAQ
costumes: Micheline AMMAQ, Atuat AKKITIRQ
producers: Paul APAK ANGILIRQ, Norman COHN, Zacharias KUNUK
exec producer NFB: Sally BOCHNER
produce NFB: Germaine YING GEE WONG
Atanarjuat: Natar UNGALAAQ
Atuat: Sylvia IVALU
oki: Peter-Henry ARNATSIAQ
Puja: Lucy TULUGARJUK
Panikpak: Madeline IVALU
Qulitalik: Pauloosie QULITALIK
Sauri: Eugene IPKARNAK
Amaqjuaq: Pakkak INNUKSHUK

"A masterpiece... The first national cinema of the 21st century," A.O. Scott, NY Times.

“like Homer with a video camera” Margaret Atwood, Globe and Mail.

Voted "Best Canadian Movie of All-Time" in 2015 by Canadian Film Critics and winner of the 2001 Cannes Film Festival Camera d'or, Atanarjuat The Fast Runner is the first feature film to be written, directed and acted entirely in the Inuktitut language.

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