ᑕᐅᑐᒃᑕᕗᒃ Tautuktavuk (What We See)

tautuktavuk.isuma.tv

Tautuktavuk (2023) - a new feature film from co-directors Lucy Tulugarjuk and Carol Kunnuk.

Blurring the line between narrative and non-fiction, Uyarak and her eldest sister Saqpinak, embark on a difficult healing journey after a traumatic event that reminds them of the importance of community, culture, and family.

SYNOPSIS

After experiencing a traumatic event, Uyarak leaves her community and family in Nunavut to live in Montreal.

When COVID lockdowns close off Nunavut from the
rest of the world, Uyarak is separated from her eldest sister, Saqpinak. This extreme situation blurs the lines of both the fictional lives of the sisters and the non-fiction lives of film’s creators who play the sisters – Lucy Tulugarjuk and Carol Kunnuk.

The film becomes a series of vignettes of heartache, healing and overcoming – both in the dramatic based-on-true-events narrative, and the lived reality of these characters and creators.

Uyarak doesn’t remember much about one terrible night of domestic violence, but Saqpinak does. Through zoom calls, Uyarak talks about healing from years of trauma and abuse, and how the counselling sessions she goes to, and other
cultural reconnections we see her taking up, are helping.

At the same time, Saqpinak is raising a family and working hosting live tv shows about her community. Things are difficult at home, Saqpinak herself is experiencing domestic abuse at home, but waits to talk to Uyarak when she can come home.

When Covid restrictions ease, Uyarak is finally able to travel home to Igloolik. She embarks on a deeper healing journey visiting with family and elders, in town and out on the land. Uyarak and Saqpinak share more and support one another in
their time together before Uyarak must return to the south.

DIRECTOR BIOS

Lucy Tulugarjuk
Lucy Tulugarjuk is an actor, creative performer, and the Executive Director of Nunavut Independent Television Network (NITV). Lucy is well-known for her performances in feature films, and was awarded Best Actress from the American Indian Film Institute for her performance in Atanarjuat The Fast Runner, which won the Caméra d’Or and Genie Award for Best Picture in 2002. She is the co-writer and director of the 2018 feature film, Tia and Piujuq, which premiered at the Carrousel Children’s Film Festival and the Boston Kid’s Film Festival, and won the Jean Malaurie Prize at Festival du Film Canadienne in Dieppe, France. She was assistant director for Zacharias Kunuk’s most recent film One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk (2019), which was featured at the Canada Pavilion in the 2019 Venice Biennale and selected as “Best Canadian Film” (Vancouver International Film Festival) and "TIFF Canada's Top Ten" films in 2019. She played the role of the young shaman in Angakusajaujuq The Shaman’s Apprentice (2019), winner of several awards including Canadian Screen Award for Best Animated Short. In addition to her work in film and television, Lucy is a skilled Inuktitut translator.

Carol Kunnuk
Carol Kunnuk is a filmmaker and has worked in independent television and film production since 1994 as a writer, camera operator, production supervisor, assistant director, actor and editor. Her personal work includes the short film Being Prepared (2021) and the documentary film Queen of the Quest (2010). Her most recent credits include production supervisor on Maliglutit: Searchers (2016), editor on the documentary film Angirattut (Coming Home) (2014), and assistant-director for the documentary SOL. Carol currently directs and produces Welcome to my Qammaq, a weekly live television show broadcasting across Canada on Uvagut TV.