Tootoo documentary likely coming north for spring screenings: producer
Two who attended première in Edmonton offer reviews of film
Hockey fans in Edmonton who caught the première of the new Jordin Tootoo documentary Oct. 11 are offering their reviews of the film.
“It was nice to get together with fellow Inuit and support and celebrate [Tootoo’s] work,” said Jeela Manniapik, who is originally from Pangnirtung but has lived in Edmonton for the past 20 years.
Tootoo, from Rankin Inlet, was the first Inuk to play in the National Hockey League. He signed with the Nashville Predators in 2003 and playing with three other teams before retiring in 2018. During his time in the national league he scored 65 goals and 96 assists while racking up 1,010 penalty minutes in 723 games.
Tootoo: The Jordin Tootoo Story deals with Tootoo’s hockey career but also pays particular attention to his battles with drugs and alcohol after his brother Terence died by suicide in 2002.
“It was good to watch a fellow Inuk celebrate his successes, and it was nice to see him outline his struggles with addictions and to discuss his sobriety,” said Manniapik.
But she offered some criticism of how those struggles were handled by the filmmakers.
“I think there was a missed opportunity to kind of discuss residential schools and colonialism and the other reasons why some Inuit community members are struggling with things like trauma and addictions,” she said.
“There’s a wider story, there’s a bigger context.”
Manniapik said she felt the film devoted too much time to alcoholism in Rankin Inlet and in Inuit communities, which reinforces “the general population’s stigmas about Indigenous people.”
Tupaarnaq Kopeck, who is originally from Greenland and now lives in Edmonton, said in an email she also has mixed feelings after watching the movie.
“While I found Jordin Tootoo’s personal story incredibly moving, I also felt that the film missed an opportunity to explore the larger context of colonialism and its impact on Inuit communities,” she said.
The Oct. 11 screening in at Edmonton’s Roger’s Place was a one-night only event that offered those in attendance a chance to get the first glimpse of the film with Tootoo in attendance.
But plans are in the works to give the documentary a wider release.
Producer Adam Scorgie said the filmmakers are planning “a big red carpet première in Rankin Inlet this spring — possibly timed around the Terence Tootoo Memorial Tournament in March.”
Since 2017, that tournament has honoured Jordin Tootoo’s brother, who was also a rising star playing in the East Coast Hockey League.
The movie will also be screened in the spring at the Astro Theatre in Iqaluit.
After the film’s limited theatrical release, Scorgie said, it will be available on the Super Channel network and most TV on-demand streaming service providers including Amazon, Google Play and Apple TV.
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