Benoit Aquin
By Katarina Soukup
In summer 2007 the Pukkik Cultural Group of Inukjuak, which was established to preserve Inuit culture and language at the community level, embarked on an ambitious project to build the first umiaq, or traditional seal skin boat, their community has seen in 50 years. Chaired by elders Daniel Inukpuk and Elisapi Inukpuk, the goal of the group is to make traditional culture visible. In the past they have built a qammaq (sod house) and seal skin tupiq (tent).
Filmmaker Jobie Weetaluktuk filmed the whole process and now his documentary UMIAQ SKIN BOAT will have its World Premiere at the Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival in Toronto in April. The film is in competition for Best Mid-Length Documentary.
Nellie Nastapoka doing last minute stitching of the holes. In the background are Josephie Nalukturuk, Daniellie Inukpuk, Johnny Kasudluak and Daniel Oweetaluktuk Kasudluak (Photo by Nancy Palliser)
Jobie Weetaluktuk is a writer, editor, broadcaster and filmmaker who originally hails from Inukjuak, Quebec, and is now based in Montreal. His first documentary film, URBAN INUK (Igloolik Isuma Productions, 2005), follows the spiritual and practical struggles of three Inuit who have left their ancestral homeland in the Arctic for the concrete jungle of Montreal. URBAN INUK aired on Aboriginal People’s Television Network in 2005 and played in over 20 festivals and venues across Canada, the USA and Europe. In 2006 the documentary won the Grand Prix, Rigoberta Menchu Community Award at the Land-in-sights First People’s Festival in Montreal, and toured various Maisons de la Culture in that city as part of the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal (RIDM)’s Coups de Coeur programming.
Weetaluktuk’s new film UMIAQ SKIN BOAT is produced by Katarina Soukup for Catbird Productions, edited by Marie-Christine Sarda and features original music by Jean-François Caissy. Produced with the generous financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Distributed by Vtape in Toronto.
HOT DOCS SCREENING SCHEDULE Friday, April 18, 2008: 6:45pm, Al Green Theatre (World Premiere) Sunday April 20, 2008: 12 noon, Royal Ontario Museum
Director and producer will be in attendance.
