Arnait Video starts work in Igloolik on new feature film

A crew shoots a scene from the Arnait Video Productions feature film Before Tomorrow in 2008. Now they’ve started work on a new film that’s set in the modern world.

Arnait Video Productions and Kunuk Cohn Productions will explore the relationship between a mother and son during a homecoming to Igloolik in their new film Uvanga (Myself), which began filming in Igloolik July 9.

Arnait, which started in Igloolik in 1991 with the Tarriaksuk Video Centre as an initiative of Igloolik Isuma Productions, produces work featuring women’s stories.

The plot of Uvanga, directed and written by Marie-Helen Cousineau, follows a woman, Anna and her 14-year-old son Tomas, who return to Igloolik

Anna, when she first worked in Igloolik, had a short-lived affair with Tomas’s Inuk father.

The film will attempt to show the differences between the Igloolik of the 1950s and 1960s and today’s modern life and incorporates English dialogue, said Arnait co-founder Madeline Piujuq Ivalu, who acts in the film.

“They’re filming a more modern film,” she said, adding that everything is going well with the production and that the crew is on schedule, with filming slated to take about a month.

“The weather is co-operating,” she said.

The cast will star Montreal based actress Marianne Farley and newcomer Lukasi Forrest, as well as Piujuq Ivalu, Pakak Innusuk and Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq.

Forrest’s character, Tomas is curious about the culture of his father, who he never knew. His homecoming then, brings back painful memories that he and his mother experienced together.

“Over two weeks that seem like one long day under that relentless Arctic sun, Anna and Tomas strive to rebuild the family they could no longer ignore,” Arnait’s news release said.

The work is produced by Cousineau and Stephane Rituit. The executive producers include Piujuq Ivalu, Susan Avingaq and Zacharias Kunuk.

Arnait and Kunuk Cohn Productions are the same team that won an award for best first Canadian feature film for Before Tomorrow at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008.

Kunuk is best known for his film, Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner.

Most of the funding for the project comes from the Canadian Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, SODEC, Nunavut Film and First Air, and the Nunavut Independent TV Network.