Inuit-language movie named best Canadian film of all time by TIFF
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, a 2001 Inuit-language movie by Nunavut director Zacharias Kunuk topped the most recent Toronto International Film Festival(TIFF) poll for top Canadian film of all time.
“This is likely the first time that a film by an indigenous filmmaker has topped a poll of national cinema—a tribute to the film’s unique approach to storytelling, its intense specificity, and its powerful universality,” said Steve Gravestock, a TIFF programmer, in an essay on the organization’s website.
Atanarjuat retells an Inuit legend and stars renowned Inuit actor Natar Ungalaaq in the title role.
This is the fourth such TIFF poll. In the previous 1984, 1993 and 2004 surveys, Mon oncle Antoine by Quebec’s Claude Jutra topped the list.
The results are voted on by over 200 academics, filmmakers, writers and programmers.
To check out the entire Top 10 film list, click HERE
Zacharias Kunuk’s 2002 lecture at the SFU School of Communication about film and the importance of storytelling:
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Web doc sheds light on Inuit relocation in Arctic Canada, Eye on the Arctic
Finland: TV-loving domestic reindeer becomes celebrity in Arctic Finland, Yle News
Norway: Tromso filmfest inspires US Arctic envoy, Deutsche Welle’s Iceblogger
Sweden: Polar Sea – major new Arctic adventure, science, social documentary series, Radio Canada International
United States: Brace yourself: More Alaska reality TV on the way, Alaska Dispatch
