Gabriela Gamez

Profile

Gabriela Gamez's picture
Since 2006 I have been working as part of the Isuma collective with indigenous children, artists and media makers in the Canadian Arctic and Latin America, exploring new solutions using video, art and new media technologies as tools for social transformation. I am currently working with John and Ruben on a project called Time Machine, a project to Inuit make comic stories using iPods or mobiles. In 2011, with the help and guidance of a group of inspiring people, I designed ARTCO as a project to experiment ways in which we can explore and practice the power, the benefit, and the creative energy of collective action. The questions behind ARTCO were: How can children and youth use new media to share experience, resolve common problems and find new ways to communicate across old barriers? and What is the “tool-kit” they need to be active participants in the reality they live in? Under the direction of Norman Cohn, I was responsible of the design and concept creation of www.isuma.tv a collaborative multimedia platform for indigenous filmmakers and media organizations, where each user can design their own space, or channel, to reflect their own identity, mandate and audience. Within Isuma I was also project manager of the web platform of Digital Indigenous Democracy (DID); DIAMA, a project for digitizing the Inuit and Aboriginal media archive; and, the Indigenous Film Network project for community film distribution. I was born in Mexico City and have lived in Montreal, Canada since 2006. I studied Sociology and Political Science. In Mexico I worked as a consultant for UNESCO and the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Mexican Department for Education (SEP) and the Mexican Department for Social Development (SEDESOL). I love being with my friends and family, yoga, walking, running, listening to music and I'm getting back to playing piano. Oh! and I love coffee!See more

Activity

  • Qamutik

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    channel: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

    In the film, this qamutik (sled) belongs to Atanarjuat. It is made of caribou antlers and bone carefully laced together with sinew cord. Water is drizzled on the runners until it freezes, then made slick with a scrap of fur so that travel over the ice and tundra is swift and smooth.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 15-10-2009

  • Qajaq

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    channel: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

    In the film, Atanarjuat paddles to shore in this qajaq (one-man canoe), toward his summer camp and his wife Atuat, who is now expecting their son.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 15-10-2009

  • Hunting Tools

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    channel: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

    In the film, this set of hunting tools is made of intricately laced bone and sinew.

    The forked kakivak (fish spear) requires impeccable hand-eye coordination and timing.

    The unaaq (spear) can be used hunt a variety of animals, such as polar bear, seal, walrus, beluga, and narwhal.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 15-10-2009

  • Caribou Goggles

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    channel: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

    Iggak (caribou goggles) are carved from the antlers of the animal. They were worn to protect the eyes from the harsh glare of sunlight reflected on the ice and snow in the Arctic.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 15-10-2009

  • Props

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    channel: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

    The filmmakers assembled a group of talented local artisans to re-create the props used in Atanarjuat.

    They were led by head prop-maker and artistic director James Ungalaaq, an internationally renowned Inuit sculptor from Igloolik whose work is in numerous museum collections of Inuit art worldwide

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 15-10-2009

  • Raven Parka

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    channel: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

    This parka is worn by the original camp leader and shaman Kumaglak. His murder in the presence of the Evil Shaman, Tungajuaq, sparks the bloody feud between Atanarjuat and Oki's families. The raven feathers sewn on the skin of the parka indicate that the man wearing it is a shaman.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 15-10-2009

  • Oki's Hood

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    channel: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

    This winter nasaq (hood) was worn by Oki in the film. Made of wolf fur, the hood has long tentacle-like strips encircling the neck, the effect of which is to make Oki look fiercer and meaner.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 15-10-2009

  • eider parka

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    channel: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

    This unusual parka is made of King Eider duck skin and covered in feathers. It was worn by Atanarjuat's arch-rival, Oki, during the attack on Atanarjuat's camp and subsequent chase across the sea ice. The parka floats in water!

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 15-10-2009

  • Amauti

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    channel: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

    The amauti (woman's parka) has a deep hood at the back in which babies and children are placed. In the film, this beautiful amauti was a gift to Atuat, Atanarjuat's first wife, during their emotional reunion after his return to Igloolik following a period of exile and recovery at the camp of the shaman Qulitalik.… Read more

    uploaded date: 15-10-2009

  • Costumes

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    channel: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

    Under the dual direction of head seamstress and Igloolik elder, Atuat Akkitirq (nominated for a Genie Award in Achievement in Costume Design), and a group of highly-skilled local seamstresses created the magnificient clothing worn by the characters in the film.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 15-10-2009

  • About ARTCO

    uploaded by: David Ertel

    Brief

    Inuit and Cree children use new media tools through a multidisciplinary artistic process to explore their past and present realities, connect with others, practice collective action and create a better future.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 10-12-2012

  • Distribution

    uploaded by: John Hodgins

    These urls are direct links to 1080p h264 files for Isuma Productions. They can be copied (right-click and select "Copy Link Location") and pasted and emailed directly to authorized clients. These urls are specially encoded and stop working after 24 hours from the time you loaded this page.… Read more

    uploaded date: 27-01-2010

  • Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change

    uploaded by: Ian Mauro

    About the film

    Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change had its world premiere October 23, 2010, at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto. The complete film also streamed online simultaneously watched by more than 1500 viewers around the world. Following the film, a Q&A with filmmakers Zacharias Kunuk and Dr.… Read more

    uploaded date: 29-04-2009

  • Old Massett Television

    uploaded by: Haida

    Local server Media Players broadcast films from IsumaTV’s website to home viewers 24/7 by local TV. Call or Facebook your Station Manager to comment or add any film or video you want to watch. Contact info@isuma.tv.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 24-04-2014

  • Our Baffinland Atlas

    uploaded by: Ian Mauro

    ABOUT OUR BAFFINLAND

    The Arctic is warming double the global average, decreasing sea ice, making it easier to access and extract mineral and oil resources from the region, and this cumulative climatic and economic change has significant human and environmental health implications for Inuit and their communities.… Read more

    uploaded date: 12-09-2013

  • The Fast Runner Trilogy

    uploaded by: John Hodgins

    Three unique Inuit films expressing the dramatic history of one of the world’s oldest oral cultures from it’s own point of view.
    “A masterpiece... The first national cinema of the 21st century.” – A.O. Scott, NY Times review of Atanarjuat The Fast Runner, 2002.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 23-10-2009

  • UNU

    uploaded by: UNUChannel

    Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Change videobriefs series. A series of short UNU videobriefs exploring climate change and its impacts from the perspectives of Indigenous community members in Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

    Available for summit viewing:
    Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Change videobriefs series
    … Read more

    uploaded date: 21-04-2009