Documentary
Inuit traditional face tattoos have been forbidden for a century, and almost forgotten. Director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, together with long-time friend and activist Aaju Peter, is determined to uncover the mystery and meaning behind this beautiful ancient tradition. Together they embark on an adventure through Arctic communities, speaking with elders and recording the stories of a once popularized female artform. Central to the film is Arnaquq-Baril’s personal debate over whether or not to get tattood herself. With candour and humour, she welcomes us into her world, to experience firsthand the complex emotions that accompany her struggle. Past meets present in this intimate account of one woman’s journey towards self-empowerment and cultural understanding.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Nanook of the North
Urban Inuk
Highway to the Arctic
Our People Will Be Healed
Nowhere Land
Button Blanket
Literary Ink: A Wizard’s Journey
Still We Rise
Natsik Hunting
Twice Colonized
Nose and Tina
Timuti
LaDonna Harris: Indian 101
Land der Bitterkeit und des Stolzes
Ningwasum
Tawai: A Voice from the Forest
The Last Igloo
Martha of the North
Tattoos: A Scarred History
The Call of Fayu Ujmu
SIMILAR MOVIES
Nanook of the North
IMDB 7.1 | Jun , 1922
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.Urban Inuk
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2005
Qallunajatut (Urban Inuk) follows the lives of three Inuit in Montreal over the course of one hot and humid summer.Only two generations ago Inuit lived in small, nomadic hunting camps scattered across the vast Arctic landscape. Since the 1950s, this traditional lifestyle has undergone an astonishing transition from Stone Age to Information Age, as Inuit first relocated (often by force) to government-run settlements, and, more recently, beyond the settlement into southern cities.Highway to the Arctic
IMDB 7 | Feb , 2017
Every winter for decades, the Northwest Territories, in the Canadian Far North, changes its face. While the landscape is covered with snow and lakes of a thick layer of ice, blocking land transport, ice roads are converted to frozen expanses as far as the eye can see.Our People Will Be Healed
IMDB 5.7 | Sep , 2017
Legendary documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin provides a glimpse of what action-driven decolonization looks like in Norway House, one of Manitoba's largest First Nation communities.Nowhere Land
IMDB 0 | Oct , 2015
Documentary about filmmaker Bonnie Ammaaq's memories of life on Baffin Island, where her family moved for eleven years during her childhood from the hamlet of Igloolik to return to the traditional Inuit way of life.Button Blanket
IMDB 0 | Oct , 2009
This short impressionist documentary looks at the creation of a Button Blanket by integrating the performance of a traditional dance with the art of the West Coast Heiltsuk Nation.Literary Ink: A Wizard’s Journey
IMDB 0 | Dec , 2020
In March 2018, elite tattoo artists from across the globe came together in Chattanooga, Tennessee to celebrate the intersection of literary fantasy and artistic magic at the inaugural Literary Ink convention. “Literary Ink: A Wizard’s Journey” explores the lives, dreams, techniques and artistic inspiration of four of these Tattoo Wizards.Still We Rise
IMDB 0 | Dec , 2022
50 years on, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy is the oldest continuing protest occupation site in the world. Taking a fresh lens this is a bold dive into a year of protest and revolutionary change for First Nations people.Natsik Hunting
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1975
Mosha Michael made an assured directorial debut with this seven-minute short, a relaxed, narration-free depiction of an Inuk seal hunt. Having participated in a 1974 Super 8 workshop in Frobisher Bay, Michael shot and edited the film himself. His voice can be heard on the appealing guitar-based soundtrack…. Natsik Hunting is believed to be Canada’s first Inuk-directed film. – NFBTwice Colonized
IMDB 7.8 | Mar , 2023
Renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter has long fought for the rights of her people. When her son suddenly dies, Aaju embarks on a journey to reclaim her language and culture after a lifetime of whitewashing and forced assimilation. But can she both change the world and mend her own wounds?Nose and Tina
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1980
Nose and Tina are a couple in love. The film captures the domestic details of their life together and documents their hassles with work, money and the law. The unusual bit: He is employed as a brakeman, and she as a sex worker.Timuti
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2012
In Inukjuak, an Inuit community in the Eastern Arctic, a baby boy has come into the world and they call him Timuti, a name that recurs across generations of his people, evoking other Timutis, alive and dead, who will nourish his spirit and shape his destiny.LaDonna Harris: Indian 101
IMDB 1 | Mar , 2014
A documentary film about Comanche activist LaDonna Harris, who led an extensive life of Native political and social activism, and is now passing on her traditional cultural and leadership values to a new generation of emerging Indigenous leaders.Land der Bitterkeit und des Stolzes
IMDB 0 | Sep , 1982
A polemic against Werner Herzog and the making of "Fitzcarraldo", exploring the question of the filmmaker's ethical and moral responsibility.Ningwasum
IMDB 0 | Feb , 2022
Ningwasum follows two time travellers Miksam and Mingsoma, played by Subin Limbu and Shanta Nepali respectively, in the Himalayas weaving indigenous folk stories, culture, climate change and science fiction.Tawai: A Voice from the Forest
IMDB 6.2 | Sep , 2017
Explorer Bruce Parry visits nomadic tribes in Borneo and the Amazon in hope to better understand humanity's changing relationship with the world around us.The Last Igloo
IMDB 7.7 | Jun , 2019
Documentary that follows a lone Inuit as he hunts, fishes and constructs an igloo, a way of life threatened by climate change.Martha of the North
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2009
In the mid-1950s, lured by false promises of a better life, Inuit families were displaced by the Canadian government and left to their own devices in the Far North. In this icy desert realm, Martha Flaherty and her family lived through one of Canadian history’s most sombre and little-known episodes.Tattoos: A Scarred History
IMDB 0 | Jun , 2009
An exploration of how the once taboo art form has become socially acceptable.The Call of Fayu Ujmu
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2002
A 13-year-old Indian boy is found unconscious after being attacked in the jungle by the evil spirit Fayu Ujmu. A shaman attempts to ritually tame the spirit and advises the boy’s father to capture it. This story is based on a Chachi Indian legend; it was shot with indigenous inhabitants of the jungle community of Loma Linda, on the Rio Cayapas.