Cheers, applause from Igloolik for Zacharias Kunuk’s latest film
Audience invited to watch private screening of ‘Wrong Husband’
The cast and crew of filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk’s feature film ‘Wrong Husband’ pose for a group shot in the summer of 2023. ‘Wrong Husband’ was shot on Igloolik Island and draws inspiration from an Inuit legend about an arranged marriage gone wrong. (Photo courtesy of Zacharias Kunuk)
This story was updated on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, at 11:15 a.m. ET.
Igloolik filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk has wrapped up filming and post-production work on his latest feature Wrong Husband, which draws on ancient Inuit legends to tell the tale of an arranged marriage that goes awry.
“The film is done, everything is locked in,” said Kunuk.
Filming took place in 2023 on the tundra of Igloolik Island, just outside the community.
When they had to switch sceneries, the team used a summer camp setup with actors and crew living in tents and working together.
“We didn’t have to move around and find locations. We just stuck in one place and made it work,” Kunuk said.
The film was edited last year and has a planned release in Canada this fall.
“The film has special effects on it so it took a long time to finish it, but I have to be happy and I have to live with the film,” he said.
Although Canadian audiences will not be able to see it until later this year, people in Igloolik were treated to a private screening of Kunuk’s film in the community during the Return of the Sun festival.
Held Jan. 12 in the Ataguttaaluk Elementary School gymnasium, the event was a celebration of local talent for the community of about 2,000 residents.
Families, elders and students in Igloolik pack the gymnasium at Ataguttaaluk Elementary School Jan. 12 for a screening of Wrong Husband. (Photo courtesy of Zacharias Kunuk)
“By showtime at 6 p.m., the gymnasium was full, wall-to-wall,” Kunuk said.
“I was talking on the stage before the show started and after I finished I went down and couldn’t find a seat. That’s my own movie!”
The audience’s excitement, he said, peaked during scenes featuring familiar faces from the community.
“Every time the audience saw a new actor on screen, because most of the actors in the film are young, our audience was clapping because they actually know these people,” Kunuk said, adding most of the actors were cast from Iglulik High School and Sivuniit Middle School.
Scenes like the appearance of the Fog Lady in front of a Shaman woman received particular enthusiasm as the audience responded with clapping, laughter and moments of quiet.
“That’s a good sign that Iglulingmiut loved it. It was great,” Kunuk said of their reactions.
Featuring an all-Inuit cast, Wrong Husband is entirely in Inuktitut in the Igloolik dialect.
The late storyteller and director Susan Avingaq, who died last year, was the film’s art director. Avingaq was one of the founders of Arnait Video Productions, a women’s filmmaking collective in Igloolik.
Produced by Igloolik-based Kingulliit Productions with a budget of $3.2 million, the film will make its international debut at the Berlin International Film Festival in February.
Kunuk’s most recent releases include the short film The Shaman’s Apprentice, in 2021, and One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk in 2019.
His 2001 film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner won numerous awards including a Genie Award for excellence in Canadian filmmaking and television as Best Motion Picture, and Kunuk was also awarded a Genie for Best Achievement in Direction.
Correction: This story was updated to correct information about the film’s Canadian release.
I’m surprised this story doesnt mention Zach Kunuk’s 2001 Camera D’or Award at Cannes for Atanarjuat. Genies are great, but Cannes… that’s the big time.