Made-in-Nunavut movie wows Genies, wins six

Page 19

It's one of the best films that you haven't yet been able to see. But the movie Atanarjuat (Inuit for 'fast runner') will sidestep the fate of most Canadian films, which are in and out of theatres with little fanfare and faster than you can say, 'what was that about, anyway?'

Atanarjuat's distributor, Odeon Films, says the movie is going to get the attention it deserves over the next few months. This means Atanarjuat will get the type of hoopla usually reserved for Hollywood mega-flicks with a mainstream launch set for mid-April.

If awards count for anything, it'll be worth the wait. Filmed on the frozen tundra of Nunavut, Atanarjuat's has snowballed ever since it hit the film festival circuit. It keeps picking up "best of" awards everywhere it goes, including the Camera d'or in Cannes. Critics and audiences both love it even though it's three hours long and is completely in the Inuit language, Inuktitut. It was also written, produced, and directed by Inuit people.

On Feb. 7, Atanarjuat added to its collection of awards when it won five of its seven nominations at the 22nd Annual Genie Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The director, Zacharias Kunuk, also won the Claude Jutra Award, which recognizes special achievement for a director in his first feature film.

Kunuk said he hopes the film's success will make it easier to get financing for his next feature film. With Atanarjuat, he waited six years for funding.

"Because of my being of Aboriginal status, people were not really fair at all. In 1994, when we started going after funding, people didn't know us, people didn't believe in us, but thanks to the National Film Board, which signed up alongside with us, doors just opened."

Atanarjuat is the little movie that could. From the start, critics tried to dismiss it as an "ethnic phenomenon" and complained that it was too long, said Norman Cohn, the movie's editor and co-producer. But "the film spoke for itself throughout the course of this year. It hasn't been too long for viewers. And nobody's suggesting that we do anything to the film now."

It's worth noting that among the seven genie nominations, not one actor was nominated.

"We think that our actors are spectacular and everyone who has ever written about the film also thought our actors were spectacular," Cohn said. "We were quite surprised when none of our actors were nominated for any of the 20 nominations for acting. We would have liked to see some of them nominated the way other Canadian actors are nominated, but maybe that'll happen the next time."

Some critics have suggested that the acting was so believable that viewers, including the Genie Awards judges, had a hard time believing the actors were playing characters and not themselves.

Atanarjuat was Canada's official entry for best foreign film at the Oscars, but the film failed to get the nod from the Americans.

But it's not such a disappointment for Kunuk. He's already achieved what he set out to accomplish.

"My dream was, since there was never enough Inuktitut programming or Inuktitut TV, my dream was just to do one. Do one exactly like them, that was my dream."

Cohn, who has lived in Igloolik since 1985, agreed with Kunuk. The laughter, tears and applause from the people of Igloolik at the movie's first showing was what made the difficult six years of production worthwhile.

"We had 1,500 viewers in a town where there's only 1,200 people. When that screening ended, and people in the community were laughing and crying and clapping and coming up and shaking Zacharias' hand, that was the night we were aiming for, and everything after is a bonus."

The film brought $1.5 million into the Igloolik economy and added 60 new jobs during the filming.

Kunuk said he is "not really" changed by the success of his film.

"Two days from now I will get on my skidoo and hunt with the pros. That's what I'm going to do next. It hasn't changed me a bit."