Eye into history
Inuit filmmaker looks to the past for his future

Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

BAKER LAKE (Jun 02/99) - For one of only two independent Inuit filmmakers, preserving legends through the voice of elders is one of the top priorities of his film making career.

Martin Kreelak of Baker Lake is a producer and director who owns and operates the Aqsaliyaa Words and Picture Video Co. Kreelak began his journey behind the lens when he took a two-year TV production training course in Baker Lake in 1986.

"That was the only two-year program the Inuit Broadcasting Corp. (IBC) has ever had and I was very lucky to be a part of that," says Kreelak. "I then spent 10 years doing full-time work as a producer and director in Baker.

"In 1996, I started working with filmmaker Ole Gerjslat for about two-and-a-half years and he convinced me to start my own company and go out on my own."

Kreelak will be staring production of an hour-long docudrama with Gerjslat this month through TeleFilm Canada. He was recently in Rankin Inlet for a screening of his six-part Inuktitut series, Amarok's Song.

Each instalment is about 27 minutes long and centres around the travels of the Inuit legend, Kiviu, who introduces each episode of the series. The series resulted from a one-hour film done in English, which aired on Vision TV.

The episodes were shot in different locations across Nunavut and deal with various personalities and traditional lifestyles through a blend of historical and cultural perspectives. Two of the six instalments have been submitted to TVNC and a Banff film festival in hopes of winning an award.

"In one segment we featured Pelagie, one of the first and last Inuit Grey Nuns. She was with them for about 20 years before leaving to be a housewife in Arviat. We also did a segment on a return to Kichekat.

"An elder grew up there before moving to Baker Lake about 40 years ago. He dreamed every day about returning and we took him back and filmed his return. It was very emotional."

Like most filmmakers, Kreelak hopes to one day produce a film which will stand the test of time and forever be his legacy. He says time is growing short for filmmakers to capture Inuit legend from a first-person perspective.

"As a filmmaker, I feel it's very important we capture stories while our elders are still alive to take us back into time and relive these legends. After they're gone, we won't have much to grasp onto."

Kreelak says the key right now to forever preserving Inuit legend and culture is to spend time accurately compiling research through speaking with the elders and letting them tell their tales in their own words.

He says culture and tradition can only be preserved up to a point through carvings and drawings, which don't tell the whole story.

"I'm hoping our Inuit bodies, the KIA, Kivalliq partners and NTI, will be able to help in the future to fulfil the dreams we have as Inuit filmmakers.

"I would like to see at least one major film completed on Inuit legends. Even if it's someone more capable of doing the film than I am, as long as it's done. If we tell of our legends from beginning to end, then they will be forever preserved and it would be a wonderful experience to capture a story like that."