Kunuk’s latest film debuts at TIFF
By Sam Laskaris
TORONTO – Zacharias Kunuk is continuing to earn kudos for his filmmaking.
The 61-year-old Inuk producer/director is best known for his 2001 film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner.
Not only was this film the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced entirely in the Inuktitut language, but it is regarded by many as one of the best films produced in the country.
In fact, a 2015 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) poll involving critics and filmmakers selected Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner as the greatest Canadian film ever.
Kunuk’s latest film is titled One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk.
TIFF, which runs from Sept. 5-15, features five Canadian films from Indigenous filmmakers this year.
One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk made its debut at a press and industry screening held at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Members of the public will be able to see the film at TIFF at its North American premiere this Friday at Toronto’s Winter Garden Theatre, beginning at 6 p.m.
This past week, it was announced that One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk has been chosen to be the opening night film of the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival, which will be staged Oct. 22-27 in Toronto.
One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk tells the story of an Inuit elder, who was born in 1900 and died in 1996.
Piugattuk was a member of an Inuit band who lived off the land in Kapuivik, which is now an uninhabited area on Baffin Island in Nunavut. In 1961, while seal hunting with others, Piugattak had a random encounter with a non-Indigenous government official.
This man, who is called Boss, has come with an offer that will drastically change the lives of Piugattak, his family and the others in his band.
Boss tirelessly tries to convince Piugattuk to drastically alter his lifestyle with a monumental move. Instead of living off the land – the only life he has known – Boss attempts to convince Piugattuk to move his band to a settlement, where the government will provide housing, monthly family allowance funds, and schooling for the children.
Kunuk is well familiar with this story, as he was actually one of those who were part of Piugattuk’s band when this incident occurred.
Kunuk was just three-years-old when Boss visited Piugattuk to make the life-altering offer. Kunuk eventually moved to the settlement of Igloolik to attend school when he was nine-years-old. His parents stayed behind but eventually joined him.
In his director’s vision of the film, Kunuk wrote about the convincing efforts of Boss and real-life government officials.
“His presence revealed to Piugattuk the irresistible power of governments who make world wars to get their way,” said Kunuk, who received the Order of Canada in 2015. “At first, the visit seemed friendly, but it prompted momentous change. Piugattuk moved into the new settlement, and then I moved too.”
During his career, Kunuk has also directed more than 30 other documentaries and feature films.
He co-founded Igloolik Isuma Productions Inc. in 1990.
Kunuk was also the executive producer of Edge of the Knife, the world’s first Haida language feature film. This film premiered at TIFF in 2018.