Nunavut Our Land

Our spe­cial guest Marie-Helene Cousineau (left) is the found­ing Coor­di­na­tor of Tar­ri­ak­suk Video Centre estab­lished in 1991. Cousineau formed the col­lec­tive Arnait Ika­jur­tigi­it (Women’s Video Work­shop), and is its coordinator/trainer … read more

Igloo­lik, Summer 1946. The dis­tant sound of the atooka­tooka­took, the first gas engine to arrive in Igloo­lik, brings a sur­prise vis­i­tor to Qaisut, island of the walrus hunters. The Priest arrives to study Inuit life, to dig in the ancient ruins and to see the hunt. When it’s time to go hunt­ing, Inuaraq thinks the Priest will bring bad luck but Quli­ta­lik final­ly gives in. Out in the open water, cut­ting up walrus on an ice floe, Inuaraq’s pre­dic­tion almost comes true. 

Aban­doned by her father Vivi Kunuk was adopt­ed by the Inuk family of her mother who raised her as a boy. This is but one remark­able chap­ter in her life. … read more

Work­ing and train­ing togeth­er over the course of two sum­mers, a group of stu­dents from 15 Mon­tre­al’s Nation­al Circus School and local Inuit youth from Igloo­lik pro­duce a unique circus … read more

Igloo­lik, Spring 1946. It is the season of never-ending days. Two dog teams search­ing the spring ice, men and boys hunt­ing day and night. Seals are every­where: at the breath­ing … read more

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 … read more

Rapid change from tra­di­tion­al to modern life in Nunavut, like many post-colo­nial soci­eties, has con­cen­trat­ed power, wealth and infor­ma­tion in a few hands. NIPI exam­ines fun­da­men­tal ques­tions of democ­ra­cy, power … read more

A late-winter Inuit camp in the 1930’s. Four fam­i­lies build a qaggiq, a large com­mu­nal igloo, to cel­e­brate the coming of spring with games, singing and drum danc­ing. A young … read more

Women of the Video Work­shop reen­act a tra­di­tion­al wom­en’s activ­i­ty: the use of the qulliq. The qulliq is the seal oil lamp and stove of the old days, the only … read more

Igloo­lik, Fall 1945. Even here, news of the ter­ri­ble world war raging out­side makes people fright­ened and uneasy. They talk of the danger of the unknown future, of shaman­is­tic inter­ven­tion … read more