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Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
I watched it on my puny little TV. It was pretty obvious that my television couldn't begin to do it justice. That's why I'm so excited that it's coming to the Capitol Theatre.
 Winner, Camera d'or. Un Certain Regard - Official Selection, Cannes 2001 Winner, Guardian Award for First Directors, 2001 Edinburgh International Film Festival Winner, Toronto-City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film, 2001 Toronto International Film Festival Winner, Grand Prix of the Flemish Community for Best Film, 28th Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent Winner, Special Jury Prize and the Prix du Public, Festival International du nouveau Cinema et des nouveaux Medias de Montreal 2001 CTV Best of Fest Award, Next Fest 2001, Digital Motion Picture Festival Best Film, ImagineNATIVE International Media Art Festival Best Canadian picture, director, screenplay, original score and editing, Genie Awards |
And while I've long awaited a theatrical release, film-goers the world over have seen it at festivals and loved it, heaping praise, accolades, admiration and awards on this work made wholly in Iglulik by Inuit. A first, and by all standards, an extraordinarily successful first.
Begun in the mid-1990s and completed in December 2000, Atanarjuat is set in the Iglulik area at the dawn of the first millennium. The 161-minute film tells the story of a bitter rivalry between two brothers -- Atanarjuat and Amaqjuat-- and Oki.
The struggle stems from a generation-old curse left behind by a mysterious shaman, which upsets the community's harmony.
Also, Atanarjuat takes a woman, Atuat, who has been promised to another.
Save three actors, the cast of Atanarjuat has never acted for the camera before, though some have appeared in Igloolik Isuma documentaries. Making things more difficult for the rookie actors, these were unscripted shoots.
Last year, after viewing Atanarjuat, I wrote that I felt the film could be placed in the experimental category. Meaning: not to be compared with the usual slick Hollywood fare. A Northern indie film.
I also wrote that Atanarjuat proves director Zacharias Kunuk and director of photography Norman Cohn make a formidable pair and have the potential of becoming first-rate, world-class filmmakers. Since writing that, the world has seen Atanarjuat and clearly fell under its spell. As a non-Inuit, I found it exciting to have the opportunity to participate as a viewer.
By recreating a way of life almost lost to the world -- pre-contact rhythms of life, tools, relationships -- the filmmakers offered a rare, very precise, glimpse into a reality completely different from my own.
The degree to which I was drawn into that world can be measured by my shock when the credits rolled. Motorized vehicles suddenly appeared on screen. That the film accomplished this speaks highly of the skill vision and passion that went into making Atanarjuat.
In fact, back in 1999, Kunuk explained to me that all the objects in the film were made as they would have been made way back when.
"We'll have no rifles," he said, "no metal. Only bone and ivory and rock. The sleds are made of whale bone. We made one of the sleds out of walrus hide. We freeze the hide and make it into a sled. All the clothing is caribou and seal. The goggles are bone ... cooking pots are in stone, and kudluks in stone, everything. That's what we've been working on these years," said Kunuk.
Raising sufficient funds to film the epic Inuit legend also took up a lot of time. And once made, even as Atanarjuat made the film festival rounds and received unbelievable acclaim -- still a Canadian distributor could not be found.
But here it is. Finally. Atanarjuat on the big screen.
Jay Pickering, manager of the Capitol Theatre says he's very excited that Yellowknife was given a print. "We've had many calls (from people wanting to know when it would come), and it's just exciting. There were limited prints -- we're pleased."
A special VIP screening will officially open the Yellowknife run on Friday evening. "It's basically the who's who of the arts and film community," says Pickering. MLAs have also received invitation.
The film will them be shown to the public at 9 p.m. It'll knock your socks off.
