Iglulik (May 23/05) - The producers of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner wrapped up filming on their newest project last week.

The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, the latest film out of Iglulik, relied heavily on traditional knowledge and oral tradition, said Norman Cohn, a partner in Igloolik Isuma Productions, speaking from his home in Montreal.

A crew member touches up the facial "tattoos" of Michelline Ammaq (Shoofly) during the filming of The Journals of Knud Rasmussen in Iglulik. Norman Cohn holds a vintage photo of the real Shoofly.

The cast and crew are mainly community members from Iglulik.

"At one point, we had 100 people on payroll," said Cohn, who produced the project with Atanarjuat director Zacharias Kunuk.

One actor, 100-year-old Rachel Uyarasuk, was 20 when Rasmussen travelled through the region.

In addition to acting in the movie, she helped make traditional clothing, including a shaman's coat.

Elders also instructed on how women's facial tattoos should look, as well as the details of harpoons.

Drawings, photos and museum artifacts were used to recreate scenes for the film set.

Rasmussen was a Danish ethnographer from Greenland who travelled through the area in the 1920s to explore and map the region.

The film chronicles a time when Christianity and commerce first swept through the North and changed the Inuit way of life.

Filming in the Arctic is 10 times more difficult than south of 60, Cohn said.

"We did have an easier time with this film because we were already known from Atanarjuat," he said.

Community support increased because people were more informed about what the final product would be, he said.

What Cohn would like to see is increased government support for Nunavut's growing film industry.

Ninety-seven per cent of the film's funding came from outside Nunavut. That is something that must change, he said.

Nunavut's new film commissioner, Sheila Pokiak, said she is working to make it easier for filmmakers to apply, and get, funding.

"Within the next month, we should know how much money will be available for films and be able to set deadlines for grants," she said.

"We want to make sure we give enough time so applicants aren't scrambling to apply."

The money may come in time for Isuma's next production.

The company is too small to work on more than one film at a time, but Cohn said they should start work on another film next year.

The Journals of Knud Rasmussen will be first shown in Iglulik before going on to the Cannes film festival in May 2006.

The Fast Runner won a Golden Camera award there in 2001.