Director wins prestigious Cannes award
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (May 28/01) - A woman teetered on her tip toes, curious about all the commotion at the Iqaluit airport last Wednesday.
"Who is it?" she asked, peering at the gathering of Nunavut dignitaries.
When told the plane carrying Iglulik's award-winning film director, Zacharias Kunuk, was touching down soon, she smiled.
She'd heard of his Golden Camera award at the Cannes Film Festival several days earlier. Although she'd never met Kunuk, she was thrilled.
Thirty people, including Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Paul Quassa and Qikiqtani Inuit Association president Meeka Kilabuk, waited patiently for Nunavut's newest golden boy.
When Kunuk emerged from his in-bound Montreal flight, the room erupted in cheers and streamers.
Kunuk smiled, thanked the crowd and was whisked off for interviews with waiting reporters.
It was been a whirlwind week for the soft-spoken Iglulik film-maker.
Kunuk won the prestigious award for first-time filmmakers for Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner).
It was a win the 44-year-old carver turned moviemaker never expected.
"There I was standing on the stage, shaking hands with Antonio Banderas. I never dreamed it," he said, still in awe.
Kunuk's three-hour film recounts two brothers snared by a jealous man's search for revenge. Atanarjuat, played by Natar Ungalaq, narrowly escapes death by running naked across an ice floe.
Kunuk's Isuma Productions in Iglulik is Canada's first independent Inuit production company.
Inspired by tradition
"I'm doing it for all Inuit. I'm the tool to expose and promote Inuit culture in this electronic age where everything is going so fast. This is the way to do it," he said.
Atanarjuat, co-produced with Norman Cohn, is the first feature-length film shot in Inukitut. The actors were entirely cast from Iglulik, a move that raised eyebrows among elite moviemakers.
"People always ask 'are they professionals?' I'm not sure what level they're talking about but, yes, they are professionals," he said.
Kunuk's thrust into the international limelight last week made headlines across Canada. Chat rooms buzzed. Politicians raised the historic accomplishment in the legislature.
But the people most proud, the ones familiar with his humour and his passion, are family and friends in Iglulik.
The community's community radio station and Co-op rumbled with excitement.
"Everybody knows him. He's a nice guy," said Laura Ivalu, Co-op coffee shop employee.
Mayor Elijah Evaluarjuk went to school with Kunuk. He remembers Kunuk's days with the Inuit Broadcasting corporation.
"He's certainly put Iglulik on the map," Evaluarjuk said.
"Did you notice he had a camera? He takes it wherever he goes. That's what he loves. He'll probably do it until the day he dies," Evaluarjuk said. "We're very proud of him."
The Cannes experience was a bittersweet one for Kunuk.
While standing before sea of international celebrities dressed in strapless gowns and pressed tuxedos in Cannes, France, Kunuk thought of his screenwriter and his screenwriter's wife. The couple passed away during filming.
Kunuk said the win was as much their's as it was his.
The actor playing Atanarjuat, Natar Ungalaq, was fishing and could not be reached for comment about the award. His 16-year-old daughter Toby cooed about the movie.
"It's so cool, man. He's my father and he's up on the screen," she said.
After nearly a week of interviews and camera flashes, Kunuk returned to Iglulik Thursday.
A reception similar to the one in Iqaluit was expected at the airport in his hometown.
But despite the applause and international renown, Kunuk remains firmly grounded in the North.
"I just want to work on my snowmobile and get out on the land," he said.
Even so, he's already planning his next film.
It will feature first encounters with missionaries and traders.
"We're starting to shop," he said.
Along with the title, Kunuk received $60,000 prize money and $160,000 to promote the film's European release. It's expected the film will get its official Canadian premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
