Film, Television and New Media
Inuit have a rich tradition of participation in film, dating back to Robert Flaherty’s 1922 landmark “Nanook of the North” (shot in Arctic Québec).
The modern era of dramatic cinema production began with James Houston’s “The White Dawn,” in 1974, filmed in Cape Dorset. With the creation of the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation in 1981, a new generation of Inuit filmmakers was born. Among them was Zacharias Kunuk, who founded his own independent Inuit film company, Igloolik Isuma Productions Inc., which produced the ground-breaking Inuktitut language film “Atanarjuat The Fast Runner,” winner of the Camera d'or at the 54th Cannes International Film Festival, May 2001.
Today the film, television and new media industry is an exciting new sector in Nunavut’s economy, and a vital part of the promotion of Inuit culture and language world-wide. 