Pond Inlet (Mar 21/05) - Elders in Pond Inlet recently watched, for the first time, a 50-year-old colour movie that featured themselves.

Joanna Pewatoalook was among elders in Pond Inlet who watched a film that was shot 50 years ago in their community. photo courtesy of Elisha Pewatoalook

Joanna Pewatoalook was one who watched images of her six-year-old self smiling in her amutiq and showing off a bead bracelet.

"I was laughing aloud," she said as her daughter Leslie translated for her. Other moments were more poignant and sad, like watching images of her father, who is no longer alive.

During the late 1940s and early 50s, explorer Donald Macmillan filmed Inuit catching narwhal and camping about five kilometres outside of Pond Inlet. These films gathered dust for many years inside the Macmillan Museum in Brunswick, Maine, until Anne Henshaw, an anthropology professor at the Bowdoin College, stumbled on the 16mm reels and realized many of the people filmed were still alive today.

She knew this because she visited the community several years ago with a collection of still photos she had unearthed earlier.

"When I saw it I was amazed," she said. "The community would go crazy about this."

About 80 residents gathered inside the library two weeks ago to watch the film. "It was very moving," Henshaw said.

The photography itself leaves something to be desired, she said. Most shots are of Inuit standing stationary and looking at the camera, although some scenes show women standing at the bow of Macmillan's boat, pretending they're the captain.

"He's not an amazing photographer," she said.

Henshaw left a copy of the 25-minute film at the Pond Inlet library for people to see it whenever they want.