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Religion and Spirituality (9)

  • Vignettes from Labrador North
    Vignettes from Labrador North
    Roger Hart 1979 4 min
    This 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    Please note that this is an archival film that makes use of the word “Eskimo,” an outdated and offensive term.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.
  • Eye Witness No. 30
    Eye Witness No. 30
    1951 10 min
    These vignettes from 1951 covered various aspects of life in Canada and were shown in theatres across the country. Subjects included here are British Columbia's Cariboo Trail, once the scene of a great gold rush and which still pays off for the placer miner and occasional prospector; Canada's new state residence at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, a redesigned old stone mansion destined to become Canada's No. 10 Downing Street; a unique ceremony in remote Chesterfield Inlet as the first Inuit girl in history receives the veil of the Grey Nuns; Great Lakes conservationists outsmart the eel-like bloodsucker that preys on fish; and the new blue model uniforms designed for the Women's Division of the Air Force.

    Please note that this is an archival film that makes use of the word “Eskimo,” an outdated and offensive term.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.
  • Hebronnimit Notitausimajut
    Hebronnimit Notitausimajut
    Holly Andersen 2022 15 min
    Atjiliugutik Holly Anderseni Makkovimiuk, Nunatsiavumi, Kaujimajuk illungani inoligijuk atjajuk iluani avalumini akinitsamik nollititausimajunik TakKani Labradorimi inunganut. Tapkunani Hebron nolititausimajut, Anderseni takunaajuk sunanik angiggaliusongujut uKalautiliguni ilannaganut amma ilageminut Kanuk nolititausimajunit anitausimamatta unuttunik jarikut Labradoriup inunganut.
  • Hebron Relocation
    Hebron Relocation
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    Holly Andersen 2022 15 min
    In Hebron Relocation, Holly Andersen explores what makes a place a home as she learns more about her community’s connection to generations of displaced northern Labrador Inuit.
  • The Living Stone (Inuktitut Version)
    The Living Stone (Inuktitut Version)
    2011 32 min
    This documentary shows the inspiration behind Inuit sculpture. The Inuit approach to the work is to release the image the artist sees imprisoned in the rough stone. The film centers on an old legend about the carving of the image of a sea spirit to bring food to a hungry camp.

    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.
  • The Last Days of Okak
    The Last Days of Okak
    Anne Budgell  &  Nigel Markham 1985 23 min
    This 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.
  • The Living Stone
    The Living Stone
    John Feeney 1958 32 min
    This documentary shows the inspiration behind Inuit sculpture. The Inuit approach to the work is to release the image the artist sees imprisoned in the rough stone. The film centres on an old legend about the carving of the image of a sea spirit to bring food to a hungry camp.

    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.
  • Timuti
    Timuti
    Jobie Weetaluktuk 2012 29 min
    In this short film, artist Jobie Weetaluktuk turns his gaze on his family and the power of ritual through the story of a young woman and her unplanned child.

    In Inukjuak, an Inuit community in the Eastern Arctic, a baby boy has come into the world and they call him Timuti, a name that recurs across generations of his people, evoking other Timutis, alive and dead, who will nourish his spirit and shape his destiny.
  • Unitas Fratrum: The Moravians in Labrador
    Unitas Fratrum: The Moravians in Labrador
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    Hubert Schuurman 1983 26 min
    The Moravians, an early Protestant group, founded missions on the Labrador coast in the 18th century. Serving as a buffer between the Indigenous people and the whalers, the Moravians laid the basis for a new society that blended traditional European and Inuit cultures. This film shows a year in the life of the Moravian mission of Nain and describes some of the stresses the modern world has brought to this isolated Arctic community. Interviewed are a retired teacher who came with the last European mission, and the first Native Moravian minister. (Telecast in the Man Alive series under the title Band of Brethren.)