WINNIPEG, MB – UWinnipeg’s Associate Professor and filmmaker Dr. Ian Mauro is heading to the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival this February with his acclaimed Inuk colleague Zacharias Kunuk. Their film Qapirangajuq: Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change has been invited to the Berlinale, considered one of the most important film festivals in the world, as part of the festival’s special series NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema.
“We’re honoured to be invited to the Berlinale, amazingly, six years after we co-directed this film, which speaks to the ongoing importance of addressing climate change and its impact on Indigenous communities worldwide”, said Mauro.
Qapirangajuq is the world’s first Inuktitut-language film on climate change. It takes viewers on the land with elders and hunters to explore the social and ecological impacts of a warming Arctic. The film has won numerous awards, been screened at numerous venues including the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic, ImagineNative and APTN, and has been hailed as “groundbreaking” by the Globe and Mail and other media. This will be the largest European screening of the film.
“Inuit are on the front lines of climate change, we’re seeing it, we’re living with it, and our knowledge and experience helps everyone better appreciate that we’re collectively living through a period of tremendous change”, said Kunuk.
Kunuk is one of the most well-recognized Indigenous filmmakers globally. He directed Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, which won the Caméra d’Or prize at the Canne Film Festival in 2001, and has been named by the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as the “Number 1 Canadian film of all time”.
Kunuk and Mauro will be presenting Qapirangajuq at two separate screenings February 17th and 19th 2016, while also participating in a public discussion entitled Exploring Perspectives on the Representation of Indigenous Film and Culture as part of a Canadian delegation sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts. This is the 66th Berlinale and will host around 400 films with those in competition overseen by this year’s Jury President Meryl Streep.
