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Angakusajaujuq – The Shaman’s Apprentice

Director Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)
Year 2021
Run Time 20min
Genre Animation
In this gorgeous stop-motion animation, a young Inuk woman follows her shaman grandmother to investigate a community member’s mysterious illness.

Director

Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)

In 2015, Atanarjuat was selected as TIFF’s number one Canadian film of all time. Kunuk has directed shorts such as Exile and Home and features such as Maliglutit, which was nominated for two CSAs. He recently directed the series Hunting With My Ancestors and executive produced SGaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Knife). His latest feature, One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, premiered at TIFF 2019. Most recently, he directed the short The Shaman’s Apprentice, which won the CSA for Best Animated Short among other awards at festivals worldwide.

Writers

Jonathan Frantz, Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)

Cast

Madeline Piujuq Ivalu (Inuk), Jacky Qrunnut, Lucy Tulugarjuk (Inuk)

Producers

Neil Christopher, Jonathan Frantz, Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk), Nadia Mike

Genre

Animation

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Indigenous Filmmaker, Strong Female Leads

Original Languages

English, Inuktitut

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Kajutaijuq: The Spirit That Comes

Director Scott Brachmayer
Year 2014
Run Time 15min
Genre Drama, Thriller
Part Inuit legend, part thriller, an Arctic hunter tries to live by the traditional skills his grandfather taught him — but they are difficult for a modern man to apply, and the price of failure is high.

Director

Scott Brachmayer

Writer

Scott Brachmayer

Cast

Johnny Issaluk

Producer

Nyla Innuksuk (Inuk)

Genres

Drama, Thriller

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Environment, Family Relationships, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Inuktitut

Language Version

EN Subtitles

Canadian Distributor

North Creative Films Inc.

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Aviliaq (Entwined)

Director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk)
Year 2014
Run Time 15min
Genre Drama, Romance
In the 1950s, two Inuit women attempt to protect their relationship when pressure from their community forces them to marry men.

Director

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk)

Arnaquq-Baril is an award-winning Inuk filmmaker whose work has screened on CBC, APTN, and at festivals like Hot Docs, imagineNATIVE, TIFF and many others. Her credits include the award-winning doc Angry Inuk, Aviliaq, Inuit High Kick, Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos and The Embargo Project. She also produced the award winning film The Grizzlies, the 2022 film Slash/Back, and co-founded the Inuit production company Red Marrow Media. She is currently producing the documentary Twice Colonized.

Writer

Dallas Varcoe

Cast

Miali Buscemi, Malaya Qaunirq Chapman

Producers

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk), Miriam Levin-Gold, Anne-Marie Stuart

Genres

Drama, Romance

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

Inuktitut

Language Version

EN Subtitles

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Amaqqut Nunaat: The Country of Wolves

Director Neil Christopher
Year 2011
Run Time 12min
Genre Animation, Drama
It begins as a hunting trip out on the ice for two Inuit hunters. However, soon they find themselves lost and the only safe haven to be found for miles is a mysterious village filled with the sounds of drum dancing and revelry. Unfortunately, this village turns out to be even more dangerous than the frigid ocean as the men realize that in this strange land, men can change into wolves.
 

Director

Neil Christopher

Writer

Neil Christopher

Producers

Neil Christopher, Louise Flaherty (Inuk)

Genres

Animation, Drama

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Inuktitut

Language Versions

EN Dub, EN Subtitles

Canadian Distributors

Inhabit Media, Taqqut Productions

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Giant Bear

Directors Daniel Gies, Neil Christopher
Year 2019
Run Time 12min
Genre Animation, Drama
A stunning animation of an Inuit legend in which a hunter battles his greatest foe, a giant bear. Content Note: Graphic animated violence.

Directors

Daniel Gies, Neil Christopher

Writers

Neil Christopher, Jose Angutinngurniq (Inuk)

Genres

Animation, Drama

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Inuktitut

Language Version

EN Dub

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Arctic Song

Directors Germaine Arnattaujuq, Louise Flaherty (Inuk), Neil Christopher
Year 2021
Run Time 6min
Genre Animation
A traditional song sharing the Inuit creation stories for the land, waters, and sky, set to breathtaking animation.

Directors

Germaine Arnattaujuq, Louise Flaherty (Inuk), Neil Christopher

Genre

Animation

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Inuktitut

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Anirniq (Breath)

Director RJ Sauer
Year 2011
Run Time 5min
Genre Drama
A beautiful exploration of the Inuit belief that when someone dies, their spirit goes into the living creatures around them.

Director

RJ Sauer

Writer

RJ Sauer

Producers

RJ Sauer, Amy Jones

Genre

Drama

Interests

Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Inuktitut

Language Version

EN Subtitles

Canadian Distributor

Brüdder Productions

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Throat Singing in Kangirsuk

Directors Manon Chamberland (Inuk), Eva Kaukai (Inuk)
Year 2019
Run Time 3min
Genre Experimental

A mesmerizing duet between two Inuit throat singers forms the soundtrack for this journey through the four seasons of the Arctic.

Directors

Manon Chamberland (Inuk), Eva Kaukai (Inuk)

Genre

Experimental

Interests

Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Inuktitut

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Origin of the Dream Catcher

Director Donavan Vollant (Innu)
Year 2018
Run Time 4min
Genre Animation, Drama
In this beautiful animated short film we learn about the creation of the very first dreamcatcher.

Director

Donavan Vollant (Innu)

Genres

Animation, Drama

Interests

Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, History, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Inuktitut

Language Version

EN Subtitles

Canadian Distributor

Wapikoni Mobile

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Qaggiq (Gathering Place)

Director Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)
Year 1989
Run Time 58min
Genre Drama
Conflicts arise when families in an Inuit camp build a communal igloo to celebrate the coming of spring with games, singing and drum dancing.

Director

Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)

In 2015, Atanarjuat was selected as TIFF’s number one Canadian film of all time. Kunuk has directed shorts such as Exile and Home and features such as Maliglutit, which was nominated for two CSAs. He recently directed the series Hunting With My Ancestors and executive produced SGaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Knife). His latest feature, One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, premiered at TIFF 2019. Most recently, he directed the short The Shaman’s Apprentice, which won the CSA for Best Animated Short among other awards at festivals worldwide.

Cast

Eugene Ikkarnak (Inuk), Pauloosie Qulitalik (Inuk)

Producer

Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)

Genre

Drama

Interests

Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, Environment, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Inuktitut

Language Version

EN Subtitles

Canadian Distributor

Vtape

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Before Tomorrow

Directors Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu (Inuk)
Year 2009
Run Time 93min
Genre Drama
Set in 1840, as white settlers begin encroaching on Inuit territory, Before Tomorrow is a visually stunning tale of an Inuk woman and her grandson. Ningiuq (director Madeline Piujuq Ivalu) is an elder who, along with her best friend Kutuujuk (Qulitalik), gather with their families each summer to share food, visit and tell stories. This particular summer however, Kutuujuk is sick and Ningiuq is worried about their future.

The two women and Ningiuq’s grandson Maniq (Paul-Dylan Ivalu) are dropped off on a remote island to dry and store fish for winter. However, as summer turns to fall, they wait in vain for the others to pick them up, and Ningiuq worries that her worst fears about the impending advance of white Europeans are coming true.

Directors

Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu (Inuk)

Writers

Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Susan Avingaq (Inuk)

Cast

Madeline Piujuq Ivalu (Inuk), Paul-Dylan Ivalu (Inuk)

Producer

Stéphane Rituit

Genre

Drama

Interests

Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker, Literary Adaptation

Original Language

Inuktitut

Language Version

EN Subtitles

Canadian Distributor

eOne

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Tia and Piujuq

Director Lucy Tulugarjuk (Inuk)
Year 2018
Run Time 80min
Genre Drama, Family, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Tia (Bshara) is a 10-year-old refugee from Syria, living in Montreal and struggling to make friends and feel comfortable in her new environment. While her parents are preoccupied with her mother’s pregnancy and the challenges of everyday life in a new place, Tia is left mostly to her own devices. 

Everything changes when she discovers a magical portal that transports her to Igloolik, a community in the Arctic Circle. There she meets Piujuq (Tulugarjuk), an Inuk girl who she quickly forms a deep bond with in spite of their cultural differences. Through their friendship, the stories of Piujuq’s grandmother, and their wanderings across the striking northern landscape, the girls are immersed in Inuit myth and magic. 

A heartwarming magical-realist fable about friendship and discovery, Tia and Piujuq is a delightful adventure for all ages. 

Director

Lucy Tulugarjuk (Inuk)

Writers

Lucy Tulugarjuk (Inuk), Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Samuel Cohn-Cousineau

Cast

Tia Bshara, Nuvvija Tulugarjuk (Inuk), Madeline Piujuq Ivalu (Inuk)

Genres

Drama, Family, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences, Indigenous Filmmaker, Newcomer Stories, Strong Female Leads

Original Languages

English, French, Inuktitut, Other Language

Language Versions

EN CC, FR Subtitles, Other Subtitles

Canadian Distributor

Vtape

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Uvanga

Directors Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu (Inuk)
Year 2013
Run Time 86min
Genre Drama
A Montreal woman and her 14-year-old son travel to the Arctic community of Igloolik to experience his late father’s Inuit family and culture. The joy of homecoming is mixed with painful memories.

Directors

Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu (Inuk)

Writer

Marie-Hélène Cousineau

Cast

Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq (Inuk), Marianne Farley

Producers

Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu (Inuk)

Genre

Drama

Interests

Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Languages

English, Inuktitut

Canadian Distributor

Mongrel Media

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The Journals of Knud Rasmussen

Director Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)
Year 2006
Run Time 112min
Genre Drama
An epic tragedy set around Igloolik in the 1920s, as the last great Inuit shaman, Avva, and his headstrong daughter, Apak, struggle to survive encroaching colonial influence. Based on the journals of a Danish explorer who witnessed their story.

Director

Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)

In 2015, Atanarjuat was selected as TIFF’s number one Canadian film of all time. Kunuk has directed shorts such as Exile and Home and features such as Maliglutit, which was nominated for two CSAs. He recently directed the series Hunting With My Ancestors and executive produced SGaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Knife). His latest feature, One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, premiered at TIFF 2019. Most recently, he directed the short The Shaman’s Apprentice, which won the CSA for Best Animated Short among other awards at festivals worldwide.

Writers

Pauloosie Qulitalik (Inuk), Louis Uttak (Inuk), Madeline Piujuq Ivalu (Inuk), Herve Paniaq (Inuk)

Genre

Drama

Interests

BIPOC Stories, History, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Languages

English, Inuktitut, Other Language

Canadian Distributor

eOne

Experimental Eskimos

Director Barry Greenwald
Year 2009
Run Time 70min
Genre Documentary
In the early 1960s, the Canadian government separated three Inuit boys from their families and sent them to Ottawa to be educated in “white” schools.

Director

Barry Greenwald

Cast

Eric Tagoona, Zebedee Nungak, Peter Ittinuar

Producer

Peter Raymont

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, Discrimination, History, Social Justice & Politics

Original Languages

English, Inuktitut

Canadian Distributor

White Pine Pictures

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One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk

Director Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)
Year 2019
Run Time 111min
Genre Drama

It is 1961 in Kapuivik, north Baffin Island, and Noah Piugattuk’s nomadic Inuit band live and hunt by dog team as his ancestors did when he was born in 1900. When the white man known as Boss arrives at Piugattuk’s hunting camp, what appears as a chance meeting soon opens up the prospect of momentous change. 

Boss is an agent of the government, assigned to get Piugattuk to move his band to permanent housing, assimilate his children into settler society and give up their traditional way of life. 

Told through the extended showdown between Inuit camp leader Noah Piugattuk (Kotierk) and a government emissary (Bodnia) (as well as the translator who must help them communicate), One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk is a deeply absorbing account of a little-known and important piece of Inuit and Canadian history.

One Day In The Life Of Noah Piugattuk illustrates Inuit-colonial relationships brilliantly.” - Kelly Boutsalis, NOW Magazine

Director

Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)

In 2015, Atanarjuat was selected as TIFF’s number one Canadian film of all time. Kunuk has directed shorts such as Exile and Home and features such as Maliglutit, which was nominated for two CSAs. He recently directed the series Hunting With My Ancestors and executive produced SGaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Knife). His latest feature, One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, premiered at TIFF 2019. Most recently, he directed the short The Shaman’s Apprentice, which won the CSA for Best Animated Short among other awards at festivals worldwide.

Writers

Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk), Norman Cohn

Cast

Apayata Kotierk (Inuk), Kim Bodnia, Benjamin Kunuk (Inuk), Tessa Kunuk, Mark Taqqaugaq

Producers

Jonathan Frantz, Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)

Genre

Drama

Interests

BIPOC Stories, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

Inuktitut

Language Versions

EN Subtitles, FR Subtitles, Other Subtitles

Canadian Distributor

RDV Canada

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Angry Inuk

Director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk)
Year 2016
Run Time 85min
Genre Documentary
We all know about the terrible “brutality” of the Arctic seal hunt — or do we? Turns out there are other sides to this story: it's the story of families that need to be fed, the story of a hunting practice that began centuries ago and the story of a tradition that is central to the economy and food security of Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic. Angry Inuk contains a story that’s over 4,000 years old.

The seal hunt is not exactly a laughing matter, but humour and technical savvy go a long way to debunk certain claims. Wryly tackling both misinformation and aggressive appeals to emotion, Inuk filmmaker Arnaquq-Baril equips herself and her community with the powers of social media — and yes, #sealfies — to reframe a controversial topic as a cultural issue in this 2016 Audience Award–winning Hot Docs hit.

Angry Inuk delivers important information about an issue we tend to think we know everything about, and delivers a powerful emotional punch.”
—Susan G. Cole, NOW Magazine

Director

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk)

Arnaquq-Baril is an award-winning Inuk filmmaker whose work has screened on CBC, APTN, and at festivals like Hot Docs, imagineNATIVE, TIFF and many others. Her credits include the award-winning doc Angry Inuk, Aviliaq, Inuit High Kick, Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos and The Embargo Project. She also produced the award winning film The Grizzlies, the 2022 film Slash/Back, and co-founded the Inuit production company Red Marrow Media. She is currently producing the documentary Twice Colonized.

Writer

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk)

Producers

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk), Bonnie Thompson

Genre

Documentary

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Environment, ESL, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics, Strong Female Leads

Original Languages

English, Inuktitut

Language Versions

EN CC, FR CC

Canadian Distributor

National Film Board (NFB)

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Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner

Director Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)
Year 2001
Run Time 172min
Genre Drama
Based on an ancient Inuit legend, Atanarjuat is an epic tale of love, betrayal and revenge. The beautiful Atuat (Ivalu) has been promised to the short-fused Oki (Arnatsiaq), the son of the tribe’s leader. However, she loves the good-natured Atanarjuat (Ungalaaq), a fast runner and excellent hunter. When Atanarjuat is forced to battle the jealous Oki for Atuat’s hand, the events that follow determine not only his fate, but that of his people. Atanarjuat won 20 awards, including eight Genies and the Caméra d’Or at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.

“I am not surprised that The Fast Runner has been a box office hit in its opening engagements. It is unlike anything most audiences will have ever seen, and yet it tells a universal story.”
— Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Director

Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)

In 2015, Atanarjuat was selected as TIFF’s number one Canadian film of all time. Kunuk has directed shorts such as Exile and Home and features such as Maliglutit, which was nominated for two CSAs. He recently directed the series Hunting With My Ancestors and executive produced SGaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Knife). His latest feature, One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, premiered at TIFF 2019. Most recently, he directed the short The Shaman’s Apprentice, which won the CSA for Best Animated Short among other awards at festivals worldwide.

Writer

Paul Apak Angilirq (Inuk)

Cast

Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq (Inuk), Lucy Tulugarjuk (Inuk), Natar Ungalaaq (Inuk), Sylvia Ivalu (Inuk)

Producers

Paul Apak Angilirq (Inuk), Norman Cohn, Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk), Germaine Ying Gee Wong

Genre

Drama

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Classics, Family Relationships, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Inuktitut

Language Versions

EN Subtitles, FR Subtitles

Canadian Distributor

Vtape

Maïna

Director Michel Poulette
Year 2013
Run Time 102min
Genre Action/Adventure, Drama
An adventure story that is both epic and intimate, Maïna is set in the Far North, in the time before the arrival of the Europeans. During a bloody battle between the Innu and Inuit tribes, an 11-year-old boy, Nipki, is captured by the Inuit. Maïna (Supernault), the daughter of the Innu Grand Chief (Greene), promises her dying friend Matsii that she will rescue the boy, embarking on a dangerous mission that will forever change the course of her life.

Venturing north into enemy territory, Maïna is herself captured by Natak, the Inuit clan’s leader, and must navigate the perilous journey with him, to the “Land of Ice.”

Based on the novel by award-winning author Dominique Demers, this gripping and visually stunning film was nominated for six Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Picture.

Director

Michel Poulette

Montreal writer/director Poulette’s film Louis 19, le roi des ondes earned the Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature as well as the Golden Reel Award. His feature Maïna was nominated for six Canadian Screen Awards and three Jutras. He directed Agent of Influence starring Oscar winner Christopher Plummer, several recent TV movies and the series Real Detective.

Writer

Pierre Billon

Cast

Uapeshkuss Thernish, Tantoo Cardinal (Cree/Métis), Graham Greene (Oneida), Roseanne Supernault (Cree/Métis)

Producers

Yves Fortin, Karine Martin

Genres

Action/Adventure, Drama

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Literary Adaptation

Original Languages

English, Inuktitut

Language Versions

EN CC, FR Dub, FR Subtitles

Canadian Distributor

Equinoxe Films

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Maliglutit (Searchers)

Directors Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk), Natar Ungalaaq (Inuk)
Year 2016
Run Time 93min
Genre Action/Adventure, Drama
Fifteen years ago, Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk won the prestigious Caméra d’or for Best First Feature at Cannes with Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. His second feature, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, opened TIFF in 2006. A decade later, Kunuk and collaborator Natar Ungalaaq have used the plot of John Ford’s 1956 western The Searchers as inspiration for a very different kind of revenge story, in which an Inuk man and his band of maliglutit ("followers") set out across the barren Arctic in search of the marauders who have ransacked his home and kidnapped his wife.

Like Ford’s film, Kunuk's Maliglutit (Searchers) explores the repercussions of violence, asking whether these hunters have begun to act like those who have torn apart their family. Very unlike Ford, Kunuk questions not only the colonial ideology inherent to the western genre, but also the possibility of justice in a seemingly unjust world. With a tale as timeless as the landscape in which it is set, Canada’s foremost Inuk filmmaker has provided us with another classic.

Directors

Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)

In 2015, Atanarjuat was selected as TIFF’s number one Canadian film of all time. Kunuk has directed shorts such as Exile and Home and features such as Maliglutit, which was nominated for two CSAs. He recently directed the series Hunting With My Ancestors and executive produced SGaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Knife). His latest feature, One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, premiered at TIFF 2019. Most recently, he directed the short The Shaman’s Apprentice, which won the CSA for Best Animated Short among other awards at festivals worldwide.

Writers

Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk), Norman Cohn

Cast

Benjamin Kunuk (Inuk), Karen Ivalu (Inuk), Jonah Qunaq

Producers

Cara Di Staulo, Jonathan Frantz, Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)

Genres

Action/Adventure, Drama

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Inuktitut

Language Versions

EN Subtitles, FR Subtitles, Other Subtitles

Canadian Distributor

Isuma Distribution International