Films with: Cohn, Norman

Angakkuiit shaman stories /

A documentary recounting Inuit memories and experiences of shamanism, and oral histories about the last shamans practicing in the region of Igloolik, Nunavut. Interviewees range from young people to elders and politicians, but they all share a belief that things happen, and that shamanism is still a living religion.

DVD 5956

Artcirq

Artcirq, a circus project, was created in 1998, with the financial support of the Cirque Éloize and Isuma Productions. During the summer of 1999, the circus company stayed for the first time in Igloolik, and presented a show and delivered the first workshops for everyone. The members of the company also participated in a ten-day hunting camp with a group of 30 Inuk, with the intent to familiarize the Caucasians with camp life. The following summer two live shows are presented and by 2001, four shows and this documentary film is presented to the Igloolik community.

DVD 5960

Arviq! Bowhead! /

For untold centuries Inuit hunted the huge bowhead, or 'right' whale, as a main source of food, heating oil and building materials, As with all animals, Inuit hunters take only what they can use. Starting in the 1700's until the close of the 19th century, commercial whalers from Europe and America wiped out almost the entire world's population of bowhead whales. In the mid-20th century, the Canadian government made the eastern Arctic bowhead hunt illegal, While Inuit were not responsible for the near-extinction of the the bowhead, they are still prohibited from hunting it like everyone else. In 1994 one of Canada's most respected Inuit elders - 95 year old Noah Piugatuk - announced that he wanted to taste the bowhead whale one more time before he died. Honouring the elder's wish, Piugatuk's son-in-law caught an illegal whale near Igloolik in September 1994. Afew months later, the whale hunters were charged and ordered to stand trial. In June 1996, the government finally dropped all charges against the Igloolik hunters. In August 1996, Inuit huntedrs from across the arctic gathered in Repulse Bay to catch the first legal bowhead in more than forty years. Arviq! traces the history of the bowhead in the Arctic up to the first legal hunt in 1996.

DVD 5955

Atanarjuat The fast runner /

A small nomadic community is cursed by an unknown shaman. When Atanarjuat falls in love with a woman already promised to the son of the clan's leader, he has to fight for her. She is won by Atanarjuat and the leader plots to attack him in his sleep. Escaping, he sets off running across the ice, embarking on a harrowing adventure of survival in the brutal wilderness. He returns stronger and wiser to reclaim his life and stop the curse that has divided his people.

DVD 1750

Atanarjuat, the fast runner Atanarjuat, la légende de l'homme rapide /

Evil in the form of an unknown shaman divides a small community of Inuit. Twenty years later, two brothers emerge to challenge the evil order: Amaqjuag, 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.

DVD 5913

Journals of Knud Rasmussen

A portrayal of the lives of the last great Inuit shaman, Avva, and his beautiful and headstrong daughter, Apak. Based on the journals of 1920s Danish ethnographer Knud Rasmussen.

DVD 5930

Kiviaq versus Canada

Zacharias Kunuk travels to Edmonton to meet Kiviaq, Canada's first Inuit lawyer, former Golden Gloves boxing champion, city alderman, and the only Inuk to play with the Edmonton Eskimos football team. Kiviaq is currently suing the federal government of Canada with a claim demanding equal rights for Inuit, whom, he argues, are neither defined in law nor granted the same privileges as other aboriginal people.

DVD 5946

Kunuk family reunion

In June 2003, Zacharias Kunuk's family gathered at their traditional home site Siuraajuk, about 70 kilometers of hard driving into the arctic wilderness from the tiny town of Igloolik. Here, at the birthplace of his father Enuki and his fathe's father Sigluk, Zach and his brothers and sisters honor their family history.Seal hunting and story telling; Mary and Jerry's wedding under the midnight sun; and visits to the old sod houses where the family lived sixty years before; revealing the continuing connection between one Inuit family and their land.

DVD 5987

Nanugiurutiga My first polar bear /

Tales of hunting one of the most feared and respected animals in the Arctic: the polar bear, or nanuq. An Igloolik elder, Abraham Ulayuruluk, recounts stories about hunting polar bears in the old days. A young boy, accompanied by his father and grandfather, captures his first bear.

DVD 5961

Nipi Voice /

Rapid change from traditional to modern life in Nunavut, like many post-colonial societies, has concentrated power, wealth and information in a few hands. Far-reaching decisions are being made daily by a mostly-unelected political elite with minimal input from under-informed citizens scattered over enormous distances. With no elected legislature in place until April 1999, Inuit organizations and their government advisors made these decisions on trust. 'Soft' media coverage is provided by these same insiders themselves: government agencies like CBC radio/TV and Government of NWT Information Networks, or the Inuit establishment through politically-controlled sources like IBC and TVNC. The absence of independent Inuit media scrutiny means there is little criticism or public debate about these important decisions. Nipi examines fundamental questions of democracy, power and change in Nunavut and indirectly in Canada itself: in education, religion, gender, lifestyle, the distribution of economic development and the make-up and inner structure of the new leadership class.

DVD 5959

Nunaqpa Going inland /

Summer in the 1930s. For Igloolik, it is the time of nunaqpa - hoing inland - the long walk in search of summer-fat caribou, to cache enough meat for the hard winter ahead. Two families leave for the hunt, while the old couple waits by the shore for their return.

DVD 5948

Nunavut Our land /

Nunavut, 13-part dramatic television series brings to life the people, setting and continuing story of how Inuit in the Igloolik region of the Canadian Arctic lived on the land in the 40s. Following the lives of five fictional families played by contemporary Inuit, the series takes us through the different seasons of the Arctic year.

DVD 5943

Qaggiq Gathering place /

Shot over four days in May of 1988 in Igloolik, North West Territories, this production documents aspects of the Inuit way of life around the turn of the century. Improvised by community members, the story revolves around a native man in love with a local woman. When he asks for her hand in marriage, her father refuses, despite protests by the woman's mother. Calling for assistance in the spirit world and his own resources during the annual Qaggik games in the communal igloo, the youth tries to reverse her father's opinion. The production records the gathering together of several nomadic families, the building of a communal igloo, and the celebrations that follow - games, singing and drum dancing.

DVD 5953