Imagine NATIVE festival spotlights 7 Inuit-led films
Nunatsiaq.com | October 14, 2022
Categories: news
Festival kicks off Oct. 18 in Toronto, goes online on Oct. 24
By Nunatsiaq News
From teens battling an alien invasion to a 320-kilometre snowmobile race, this year’s imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is putting the spotlight on seven Inuit-directed films.
The 23rd annual festival that promotes Indigenous movies, art and multimedia projects will run in Toronto from Oct. 18 to 23 before moving to online streaming from Oct. 24 to 30.
Featured is the hit sci-fi adventure film Slash/Back from director Nyla Innuksuk. The movie follows a group of teen girls in Pangnirtung who use their knowledge of the land and Inuit hunting skills to fight off an alien invasion.
Six short films directed by Inuit filmmakers will also be screened at the festival.
Imajuik is another contribution to the sci-fi and horror genres. The short film by Inuk filmmaker Marc Fussing Rosbach follows the last person alive in the future ghost town of Nuuk, Greenland in the year 2060.
The six-minute animated short Arctic Song, from Germaine Arnattaujuq, Neil Christopher and Louise Flaherty shows how the land, sea and sky came to be through re-envisioning Inuit creation stories.
Siku Allooloo, an Inuk and Haitian Taíno artist, explores a woman’s connection to the spirit world in the experimental short Spirit Emulsion.
Directing duo Tim Anaviapik Soucie and Vincent L’Hérault bring Imalirijit to the screen, a story of a young father in Pond Inlet who starts a research program to investigate water quality in his community.
The two-minute Beach Heart is Montreal artist Glenn Gear’s animated tribute to his late mother and his family ties to Nunatsiavut.
And Nadia Mike’s Kimmirut Race follows snowmobile racer Davidee Qaumariaq as he takes part in the annual 320-kilometre race from Iqaluit to Kimmirut and back.
More information about the films and how to watch them can be found on the imagineNATIVE festival website.
At the festival last year, the short film Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman’s Apprentice by renowned Nunavut filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk earned the Live Action Short Award.
