Spotlight on Nunavut talent: A special screening of Zacharias Kunuk’s Maliglutit (Searchers)
Movie Nights Across Canada and Nunavut Film Development Corporation roll out the red carpet to celebrate Indigenous creative talent
Iqaluit, June 28, 2017 – On Wednesday, June 28, 2017, the Honourable Peter Taptuna, Premier of Nunavut, and the Honourable Monica Ell-Kanayuk, Deputy Premier and Minister of Economic Development and Transportation of Nunavut, will host a special screening of internationally acclaimed filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk’s latest feature, Maliglutit (Searchers), presented by Movie Nights Across Canada and the Nunavut Film Development Corporation. Maliglutit is produced by Zacharias Kunuk, Jonathan Frantz and Cara Di Staulo for Kingulliit Productions Inc.
“I have spent over four decades in the film industry,” says Derek Mazur CEO of Nunavut Film Development Corporation, “and I have never encountered such a consistent and overwhelming level of creativity that I have witnessed in Nunavut. All of us should be very proud.”
Presented at the Astro Theatre in Iqaluit, the special screening is the fourth in a cross-country series to spotlight the wealth of screen-based talent from coast-to-coast-to-coast.
Co-directors Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, winner of the Camera d’Or at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival) and Natar Ungalaaq, and actors Benjamin Kunuk, Jocelyne Immaroitok, and Karen Ivalu will all be on hand for the screening, along with Nellie T. Kusugak, Commissioner of Nunavut.
What’s more, Nunavut Talent Ambassadors Stacey Aglok Macdonald, producer and director, and Vinnie Karetak, actor and musician, will also participate in the festivities along with award-winning Inuk producer and director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Angry Inuk) and celebrated Canadian musician Joel Plaskett.
The evening will also feature a performance from Kiviuq Returns by some of the members of the Qaggiq Performing Arts Collective.
Read the evening’s Inuktitut-English-French commemorative program for more information.
About the film
Set in Nunavut circa 1913, Maliglutit tells the story of Kuanana, who one day returns from a caribou hunt to discover his wife and daughter kidnapped and the rest of his family slaughtered. With his father’s spirit helper, the loon Kallulik, Kuanana sets out on a course to overturn fate and reunite his family.
Maliglutit was nominated for Best Motion Picture and Original Screenplay at the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards and screened at the most recent editions of the Berlin International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Festival du nouveau cinema, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, and Vancouver International Film Festival, among others.
Trailer: http://www.isuma.tv/maliglutit
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About Movie Nights Across Canada
Movie Nights Across Canada started more than a decade ago in Ottawa as Movie Night on the Hill. Touching down in eight cities this year, Movie Nights Across Canada events are where decision-makers, local film fans, industry supporters, private and public broadcasters, and the country’s top talent converge to experience the wealth of creativity, unique storytelling, entrepreneurship, and passion that resides in the hearts and minds of Canadian filmmakers. The cross-country tour continues, touching down in Halifax, Calgary, Quebec City, and Vancouver. In each city, Movie Nights Across Canada is partnering with regional film experts and cultural agencies.
Media enquiries:
Andrea Archibald, Deputy Director, Communications
(514) 283-0838 ext. 2047 or 1-800-567-0890
andrea.archibald@telefilm.ca
To join us:
Limited tickets for this FREE event are still available. Please reserve by emailing rsvp@telefilm.ca.
