Kingulliit The Next Generation Blog

Behind the scenes look as Zacharias Kunuk presents Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner to a world audience at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001.Directed by Zacharias Kunuk 

Canada Media Fund Experimental Stream approved a $1 million investment in IsumaTV's newest initiative, Digital Indigenous Democracy, for 2011-12. For more information, see attached files.

In August, the Government of Nunavut Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth (CLEY) overruled its previous refusal and now approved the original funding proposal for NITV on IsumaTV 3.0, NITV's 2011-12 proposal to expand the network of IsumaTV High-speed MediaPlayers to a total of 8 Baffin Island communities: Igloolik, Pangnirtuq and Iqaluit, started in 2010-11, and add

Footage of Uqausiqaqatigiingniq,the Inuit Standardization Symposium.The symposium dealt with the standardization of Inuktitut. Questions were brought up such as whether or not the language should be standardized, what would be the challenges of standardizing a language with such a variety of dialects, and how would one undertake such a project.

Footage of Uqausiqaqatigiingniq,the Inuit Standardization Symposium.The symposium dealt with the standardization of Inuktitut. Questions were brought up such as whether or not the language should be standardized, what would be the challenges of standardizing a language with such a variety of dialects, and how would one undertake such a project.

Footage of Uqausiqaqatigiingniq,the Inuit Standardization Symposium.The symposium dealt with the standardization of Inuktitut. Questions were brought up such as whether or not the language should be standardized, what would be the challenges of standardizing a language with such a variety of dialects, and how would one undertake such a project.

Footage of Uqausiqaqatigiingniq,the Inuit Standardization Symposium.The symposium dealt with the standardization of Inuktitut. Questions were brought up such as whether or not the language should be standardized, what would be the challenges of standardizing a language with such a variety of dialects, and how would one undertake such a project.

Footage of Uqausiqaqatigiingniq,the Inuit Standardization Symposium.The symposium dealt with the standardization of Inuktitut. Questions were brought up such as whether or not the language should be standardized, what would be the challenges of standardizing a language with such a variety of dialects, and how would one undertake such a project.

Footage of Uqausiqaqatigiingniq,the Inuit Standardization Symposium.The symposium dealt with the standardization of Inuktitut. Questions were brought up such as whether or not the language should be standardized, what would be the challenges of standardizing a language with such a variety of dialects, and how would one undertake such a project.

Zebedee Nungak talks about the preservation of the Inuktitut language. He mentions some of the work being done in Nunavik (Northern Quebec) to preserve the language, what are the results of these efforts, and which communities are more at risk and need more help.

November 24th, 2010. Pangnirtung, Nunavut. Zach and Paul discussing the MediaPlayers and answering general questions in Pangnirtung.

November 17th 2010. Iqaluit, Nunavut.Zacharias Kunuk talks to an audience during a NFB workshop.

November 30th, 2010. Igloolik, Nunavut.Opening ceremony for the new Igloolik mental health hospital. Includes speeches, singing and a tour of some of the hospitals’ facilities.  

November 19th, 2010. Iqaluit, Nunavut.CBC North radio interview with Zach and Paul in which they talk about the IsumaTV MediaPlayers and its uses in helping to offer high-speed internet in low-bandwidth communities.

November 30th, 2010. Igloolik, Nunavut.Kingulliit team installing the MediaPlayer in the Igloolik high school and explaining its uses to the teachers.

November 25th 2010. Pangnirtung, Nunavut.This video shows John Hodgins explaining how he is installing the IsumaTV MediaPlayer in the Pangnirtung high school. Then Zacharias Kunuk and Paul Quassa talk about the uses of the MediaPlayer to a classroom of high school students.

November 26th, 2010. Iqaluit, Nunavut.

November 25th, 2010. Pangnirtung, Nunavut.Installing an Isuma MediaPlayer server in the Pangnirtung youth centre.

November 19th, 2010. Iqaluit, Nunavut.Zach and Paul speak with elders in Iqaluit about the uses of the isuma.tv MediaPlayer. They then screen Qapirangajuq: Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change, using the MediaPlayer.

Audience members share their thoughts on the conference on uranium mining.Interviewed by Zacharias Kunuk.

November 25th, 2010. Pangnirtung, Nunavut.Paul Quassa presents the isuma.tv website to elders in Pangnirtung, then shows them Qapirangajuq: Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change, using the MediaPlayer.

 Zacharias Kunuk's first independently produced video - directed in 1985.

Footage of the server installment at the Inuksuk High School in Iqaluit. An IsumaTV server was also installed at the Iqaluit Centennial Library.Both internet servers, which allow people to view the isuma.tv website in high speed despite the very slow internet connections of northern communities, were donated by Isuma.

Here are some photos from the recent Isuma TV screening in Iqaluit.*Photos taken by Ed Maruyama*A message from Lucie Idlout on November 26th:

This is a blog by Faye Ginsburg of New York University discussing the lauching of Nunavut Independent Televsion Network (NITV) on IsumaTV. Interesting blog with great comments.

Boost slow internet to high-speed in Inuit and Aboriginal communities: contact info@isuma.tv Pilot 2010-11: Increasing Inuktitut language content across Nunavut communities   7 Communities Connected to Hi-speed Inuit Website All-Inuktitut TV Channel Broadcast to Home Television Inuktitut Educational Content Direct to Students and Teachers Inuit and Aboriginal communities worldwide face loss of language and social breakdown from 21st century Globalization and Climate Change. Foreign language media overload is a major cause of language loss, especially for youth. Communities can reverse this trend by vastly increasing local language media content. Low-cost video and internet tools revitalize language, protect cultural identity, improve education and create jobs for the future using new digital media technology. IsumaTV [www.isuma.tv] is an interactive social networking website of Inuit and Aboriginal films launched in January 2008. Hundreds of hours of Inuktitut-language content and over a thousand films in 28 languages now can be seen by anyone anywhere with a good internet connection and a computer, laptop or iPod. Unfortunately, most Inuit communities don‘t have sufficient bandwidth to download IsumaTV’s video content. With 7.5 million hits worldwide in its first fifteen months, IsumaTV films viewed hi-speed in Toronto, Paris, Helsinki and Beijing barely can be seen in Nunavut schools and homes where they are needed most. Read full proposal and schematic Beyond Broadcast: Launching NITV on Isuma TV Igloolik Isuma is perhaps the most well-known of indigenous media groups in the world, notably through the global success of their prize winning film Atanarjuat The Fast Runner (2000), the first Inuit feature film, created through their distinctive community based production process. Their most recent film (see clip), Before Tomorrow (2008, Arnait women’s collective), is gathering prizes on its festival run. The group formed in 1990, turning televisual technologies into vehicles for cultural expression of Inuit lives and histories, a counterpoint to the introduction of mainstream satellite-based television into the Canadian Arctic. Headed by director Zacharias Kunuk, Isuma engages Igloolik community members while filmmaker and Isuma partner Norman Cohn leads a support team in Montreal. Frustrated by the difficulty of showing work to other Inuit communities, in 2008, they launched a groundbreaking alternative for indigenous distribution, Isuma TV, a free internet video portal for global indigenous media, available to local audiences and worldwide viewers. On May 29, 2009, Isuma will launch NITV on Isuma TV, a digital distribution project, bringing a hi-speed version of IsumaTV into remote Nunavut communities where the bandwidth is inadequate to even view YouTube. NITV allows films to be re-broadcast through local cable or low-power channels, or downloaded to digital projectors. . . Read full article by in media res IFN 2.0 brings HIGH-SPEED videos to Low-speed communities Indigenous Film Network on IsumaTV distributes Inuit, Aboriginal, First Nations, Metis and other Native films by internet to digital projectors in remote communities. IsumaTV local servers bring HI-speed films to LO-speed audiences. Read more

From an Inuit point of view. Produced, directed, written, and acted by Inuit This 13-part dramatic television series brings to life the people, setting and continuing story of how Inuit in the Igloolik region of the Canadian Arctic lived on the land in the 40s. Based on true stories of present-day Elders, who still remember their early days growing up just before government and settlement life begun, Nunavut recreates a nomadic lifestyle that no longer exists today. Following the lives of five fictional families played by contemporary Inuit, the series takes us through the different seasons of the Arctic year. Beginning during the beautiful northern spring of 1945, Nunavut re-enacts first encounters with the priest at Avaja. Inside the church, the sermon is clear: Paul 4:22, “Turn away from your old way of life.” Nevertheless, the Inuit continue their age-old traditions of fishing, hunting for walrus, caribou, and seal. Home is kept cozy by a carefully-tended seal oil lamp. But even here, news of the terrible world war raging outside makes people frightened and uneasy. The series closes on Christmas Day, which for Inuit in 1946 is a strange mix of ritual, some from the old life and some from the new. Click on titles to VIEW FILMS Episode 1: Qimuksiq (Dogteam) SynopsisIgloolik, Spring 1945. While imparting knowledge to the next generation, one family travels in the immense and beautiful arctic during spring. Year: 1995 Production company: Igloolik Isuma Productions Language: Inuktitut with English s-t Episode 2: Avaja (Avaja) SynopsisIgloolik, Spring 1945. Inuaraq's family finally arrives at Avaja to a warm welcome. Year: 1995 Production company: Igloolik Isuma Productions Language: Inuktitut with English s-t Episode 3: Qarmaq (Stone House) SynopsisIgloolik, Fall 1945. Grandmother remembers the old way. Year: 1995 Production company: Igloolik Isuma Productions Language: Inuktitut with English s-t Other Titles Episode 4: Tugaliaq (Ice Blocks) | 1995 Episode 5: Angiraq (Home) | 1995 Episode 6: Auriaq (Stalking) | 1995 Episode 7: Qulangisi (Seal Pups) | 1995 Episode 8: Avamuktulik (Fish Swimming Back and Forth) | 1995 Episode 9: Aiviaq (Walrus) | 1995 Episode 10: Qaisut (Qaisut) | 1995 Episode 11: Tuktuliaq (Caribou Hunt) | 1995 Episode 12: Unaaq (Harpoon) | 1995 Episode 13: Quviasuvik (Happy Day) | 1995

In 1953, Inuit families were forcibly relocated to the uninhabited and inhospitable high arctic, 1500 kilometres north of their traditional homeland of Nunavik, in northern Québec, to extend Canadian claims of sovereignty to Ellesmere Island. Inuit endured families torn apart and many years of hardship.

Three partners of Igloolik Isuma Productions interview themselves about the meaning of their work together. Shot sometime in the early 1990's, date unknown.Why We Do This? Zach Kunuk, Qulitalik, Norman Cohn, 42:09, Inuktitut and English. Early 1990s.

Kiviaq's extraordinary life story bears testimony to the treatment Indigenous people of the Canadian Arctic have endured for generations due to the government's inhumane colonial policies.

In June 2003, Cannes prize-winner Zacharias Kunuk's family gathered at their traditional home camp site of Siuraajuk, to share stories and honor the ancestors who came before them: a wedding; a burial; messages from the past.**CLICK HERE to order on amazon.ca**

Inuit memories and experiences of shamanism, and oral histories about the last shamans practicing in the region of Igloolik, Nunavut. Interviewees range from young people to elders and politicians, but they all share a belief that things happen, and that shamanism is still a living religion.

Ajainaa! features Igloolik Elders discussing their views of contemporary Inuit life. Topics include the role of Inuit and "Southern" forms of education, survival strategies (such as how to save a drowning victim), and the differences between camp and settlement life. Written, produced, and performed by Isuma's Uqallangniq Elders Group.

**CLICK HERE to order on amazon.ca**Nanugiurutiga (My First Polar Bear), Igloolik Isuma Productions 2000, Director Zacharias Kunuk. Inuktut w/English s-t.

Rapid change from traditional to modern life in Nunavut, like many post-colonial societies, has concentrated power, wealth and information in a few hands.