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Living in non-Indigenous Communities (8)
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Vignettes from Labrador NorthRoger Hart 1979 4 minThis short film from the Canada Vignettes series chronicles the history of Labrador's Inuit and the role of the Moravian missionaries.
Please note that this is an archival film that makes use of the word “Eskimo,” an outdated and offensive term. While the origin of the word is a matter of some contention, it is no longer used in Canada. The term was formally rejected by the Inuit Circumpolar Council in 1980 and has subsequently not been in use at the NFB for decades. This film is therefore a time-capsule of a bygone era, presented in its original version. The NFB apologizes for the offence caused. -
If the Weather PermitsElisapie Isaac 2003 27 minThis short documentary studies life in the village of Kangirsujuaq, Nunavik. In this community on the edge of the Arctic Ocean, children’s laughter fills the streets while the old people ponder the passage of time. They are nomads of the wide-open spaces who are trying to get used to the strange feeling of staying put. While the teenagers lap up Southern culture and play golf on the tundra to kill time, the Elders are slowly dying, as their entire culture seems to fade away.
Elisapie Isaac, a filmmaker born in Nunavik, decides to return to her roots on this breathtaking land. To bridge the growing gap between the young and the old, she speaks to her grandfather, now deceased, and confides in him her hopes and fears. Grappling with isolation, family relationships, resource extraction, land-based knowledges, the influence of Southern culture and the ongoing impacts of colonialism on Inuit ways of life, Elisapie Isaac offers a nuanced portrait of the North. -
Si le temps le permet (version inuktitut)2003 0 sDocumentaire personnel de l'artiste Élisapie Isaac. En pleine immensité boréale, au bord de la mer Arctique, un village : Kangirsujuaq, au Nunavik. Ici, traditions et modernité se croisent quotidiennement. Les rires des enfants habitent joyeusement les rues, les jeunes carburent à la culture « du Sud », alors que les vieux tentent encore de se faire à leur étrange sédentarité. Dans cette toundra à couper le souffle, la jeune cinéaste originaire de Salluit, maintenant installée à Montréal, décide de plonger au coeur de ses origines.
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The Last Days of OkakAnne Budgell & Nigel Markham 1985 23 minThis short documentary tells the story the once-thriving town of Okak, an Inuit settlement on the northern Labrador coast. Moravian missionaries evangelized the coast and encouraged the growth of Inuit settlements, but it was also a Moravian ship that brought the deadly Spanish influenza during the world epidemic of 1919. The Inuit of the area were decimated, and Okak was abandoned. Through diaries, old photos and interviews with survivors, this film relates the story of the epidemic and examines the relations between natives and missionaries.
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Nunavut Animation Lab: The Bear FactsJonathan Wright 2010 3 minIn this animated short, a self-important colonial explorer emerges from a sailing ship and plants a flag on the Arctic ice, as a bemused Inuit hunter looks on. Then the explorer plants another, and another, and another, while the hunter, clearly not impressed that his land has been “discovered,” quietly goes about his business.
In this charming and humorous re-imagining of first contact between Inuit and European, Jonathan Wright brings us the story of a savvy hunter and the ill-equipped explorer he outwits. -
Nunavut Animation Lab: The Bear Facts (Version Inuktitut)2010 3 minIn this animated short, a self-important colonial explorer emerges from a sailing ship and plants a flag on the Arctic ice, as a bemused Inuit hunter looks on. Then the explorer plants another, and another, and another, while the hunter, clearly not impressed that his land has been “discovered,” quietly goes about his business. In this charming and humorous re-imagining of first contact between Inuit and European, Jonathan Wright brings us the story of a savvy hunter and the ill-equipped explorer he outwits.
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No Turning BackGregory Coyes 1996 47 minThis film follows the aftermath of the Oka crisis, which brought Indigenous rights into sharp focus. After the barricades came down, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was created, and travelled to more than 100 communities and heard from more than 1,000 representatives. For two-and-a-half years, teams of Indigenous filmmakers followed the Commission on its journey.
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PangnirtungJohn Feeney 1959 29 minVisit the outpost community of Pangnirtung, located on the rim of the Arctic Circle, in this short documentary from 1959. Here, a handful of people provide for the health and welfare of a scattered Inuit population. The outpost, made up of nothing more than a cluster of buildings on a windswept fjord, has an influence that reaches far beyond its physical borders.
Please note that this is an archival film that makes use of the word “Eskimo,” an outdated and offensive term. While the origin of the word is a matter of some contention, it is no longer used in Canada. The term was formally rejected by the Inuit Circumpolar Council in 1980 and has subsequently not been in use at the NFB for decades. This film is therefore a time-capsule of a bygone era, presented in its original version. The NFB apologizes for the offence caused.
