Four Inuit artists net Canadian Screen Award nominations
Animated, documentary shorts among Inuit-produced nominees
Stills from the short films, “Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman’s Apprentice” (left) and “Nalujuk Night.” Both films are among the Inuit-made nominees for the Canadian Screen Awards. (Images courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival and National Film Board of Canada)
Four Inuit artists have earned nominations at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards.
Filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk and producer Nadia Mike have been nominated for Best Animated Short for Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman’s Apprentice.
The film follows the story of a young woman and her grandmother seeking answers from a shaman to help heal a sick man.
Also in the movie category, director and photographer Jennie Williams has been nominated for Best Documentary Short for her film Nalujuk Night.
The 13-minute documentary shows the residents of Nain in the Nunatsiavut region of Labrador as they celebrate the annual appearance of the Nalujuit, animalistic, skeletal-like creatures draped in furs that emerge from the sea ice every Jan. 6 to greet the children of the community. If the children have been good that year, they get a handshake from the Nalujuit, but if they’ve been bad, they are chased through town.
Set to a spooky score and filmed in high-contrast black and white that makes the terrifying creatures pop off the screen, the film has already won the award for Best Atlantic Short Documentary at the FIN Atlantic Film Festival.
On the music side, throat singer Tanya Tagaq is nominated for the 2022 Achievement in Music: Original Song for “Surface Nord.”
Winners of the Canadian Screen Awards will be announced on April 10. The awards will be presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
Is there somewhere we can watch ‘Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman’s Apprentice’?
I’ve searched online but can’t find anything but previews. I’d like to watch it.