ATANARJUAT: THE FAST RUNNER (2001) Canadian Cinema Film Talk Series
Tickets: Free
Director: Zacharias Kunk Cannes Film Festival: Caméra d’Or (Golden Camera) Genie Awards: Six including Best Motion Picture In 2015, a poll of filmmakers and critics in the Toronto International Film Festival named it the greatest Canadian film of all time This adaptation of an ancient Inuit legend was filmed in Inuktitut and directed by Inuit filmmakers – making Atanarjuat the first feature film of its kind. Set in Igloolik, in Nunavut, this is “a powerful drama, not a documentary,” reminds the director Kunuk. “It demystifies the exotic, otherwordly aboriginal stereotype by telling a universal story.” The clothes, spears, kayaks, sunglasses, and dwellings were all painstakingly researched. “We show how our ancestors dressed, how they handled their dog teams, how they argued and laughed.. confronted evil and fought back.” In Inuktitut, with English subtitles. ATANARJUAT: THE FAST RUNNER (2001)
Starring: Natar Ungalaaq, Sylvia Ivalu, Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, and Lucy Tulugarjuk