1. Early life

2. Film career
    Lumaajuuq: The Blind Boy and the Loon (2009)  Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos (2010)  Aviliaq: Entwined (2014)  Angry Inuk (2016) 

3. Activism

4. Selected filmography

5. Selected publications

6. Awards

7. External links

8. References

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril {{post-nominals|post-noms=MSC}} is an Inuk filmmaker, known for her work on Inuit life and culture. She is the owner of Unikkaat Studios, a production company in Iqaluit, which produces Inuktitut-language films. She was awarded the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross {{post-nominals|post-noms=MSC}}, in 2017 in recognition of her work as an activist and filmmaker. She currently works part-time at the Qanak Collective, a social project which supports Inuit empowerment initiatives.

Early life

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril was born and raised in Iqaluit, Nunavut Territory, Canada. Her mother is an Inuk teacher with a Masters in Education and her father was a radio broadcaster with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).^[1]

Arnaquq-Baril initially wanted to be a video game designer. While attending Sheridan College in Ontario, she became interested in storytelling. She graduated from the college's Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning's program in illustration. Arnaquq-Baril also completed animation training at the Banff Centre in a program offered by the National Film Board of Canada.^[1]

In 2011, Arnaquq-Baril was interviewed by CBC about her work: "The Inuit culture is primarily an oral culture, there is little written in Inuktitut about the past and she feels compelled to record it 'while the last elders that traditionally lived on the land are still alive'".[4]

Film career

Arnaquq-Baril began her film career as a producer with the documentary James Houston: The Most Interesting Group of People You'll Ever Meet (2008) and as co-producer of The Experimental Eskimos (2009). She wrote and directed her first film, an animated short film sponsored by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), titled Lumaajuuq: The Blind Boy and the Loon, which was released in 2009. Arnaquq-Baril subsequently wrote a children's book based on the film with illustrator, Daniel Gies. The book is titled The Blind Boy and the Loon and was published in 2014. It is available in English and Inuktitut.^[3][4]

Arnaquq-Baril directed her first full-length film, Tunnit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos (2010), a personal documentary about her journey to explore the lost tradition of Inuit facial tattoos.^[2] Between 2011 and 2018, Arnaquq-Baril has worked on five other films in various roles as producer, director and screenwriter. She produces Inuit cultural documentaries and Inuktitut-language films through her own production company, Unikaat Studios, and through Tajarniit Productions, a collaborative project with Inuit women filmmakers. She was named by the Toronto International Film Festival as one of Canada's most important women filmmakers in 2017.^[6] Angry Inuk won the DOC Vanguard award, the Vimeo On Demand Audience Award and the Canadian Documentary Promotion Award, among others.^[7]

In 2017, Arnaquq-Baril was awarded Canada's Meritorious Service Cross, {{post-nominals|post-noms=MSC}}, "in recognition of her work as an activist and filmmaker".^[3] She currently works part-time with the Qanak Collective, which supports Inuit empowerment projects.^[1]

Lumaajuuq: The Blind Boy and the Loon (2009)

The animated, short film Lumaajuuq: The Blind Boy and the Loon, is an adaption of a traditional Inuit story about a widowed mother who takes out her sorrow on her only son and treats him cruelly. Once a great hunter, the son is now blind. He later travels to a lake where a loon reveals to him that it was his mother who cursed away his sight. With the loon's help, the young man regains his vision. Overcome with his own rage, the young man seeks revenge and his actions bring him lifelong suffering. The film won best Canadian Short Drama at the imagineNATIVE festival in 2010 as well as the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Aboriginal category at the Yorkton Film Festival.^[7]

Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos (2010)

The documentary Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos, examines the tradition of face tattooing among Inuit women, now forbidden and nearly forgotten. Arnaquq-Baril embarks on a personal journey, interviewing members of the Inuit community. Meeting resistance from some of her fellow Inuit, she eventually finds a number of elders willing to talk about the tattoos, and learns about the dramatic cultural changes that led to their decline."^[4]

Aviliaq: Entwined (2014)

Arnaquq-Baril released the short film Aviliaq: Entwined in 2014. A drama set in the 1950's Arctic, it tells the story of two Inuit lesbians struggling to stay together after one of them marries. The film addresses the issues of sexuality and family structure in the Inuit culture during a period of colonization.^[5]

Angry Inuk (2016)

Activism

Arnaquq-Baril advocates for the continuation of the Arctic seal hunt.^[11]

Selected filmography

Selected publications

• {{cite book |last1=Arnaquq-Baril |first1=Alethea |title=The Blind Boy and the Loon |date=2014 |publisher=Inhabit Media |isbn=978-1927095577 |pages=48}}

Awards

• 2008 James Houston: The Most Interesting Group of People You'll Ever Meet won Allan King Award For Excellence in Documentary^[12]
• 2010 Lumaajuuq: The Blind Boy and the Loon won best Canadian Short Drama at the imagineNATIVE festival in 2010^[13]
• 2011 Throat song Best Live Action Short Drama, Academy Awards shortlist (2014).^[13]
• 2016 Angry Inuk received the Vimeo On Demand Audience Award along with the Canadian Documentary Promotion Award^[13]
• 2016 Angry Inuk 2016 winner of Audience Choice award at HotDocs^[13]
• 2017 Angry Inuk Santa Barbara International Film Festival winner Social Justice Award^[14]
• 2017 Arnaquak-Baril named by the Toronto International Film Festival as one of Canada's most important women filmmakers^[10]

External links

• Innuit High Kick (short film) [https://vimeo.com/64586456]
• Seven Sins: Sloth (short film) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quw9TEm5WWo]

References

• April 2018 in Europe
• April 2018 inter-Korean summit
• April 2018 Kabul suicide bombing
• April 2018 Kabul suicide bombing (22 April 2018)
• April 2018 Kabul suicide bombing (disambiguation)
• April 2018 Kabul suicide bombings (30 April 2018)
• April 2018 North American blizzard
• April 2018 North American storm complex
• April 2018 Syria airstrikes
• April 2018 Toronto van attack
• April 2018 United Kingdom heat wave
• April 2018 Update
• April 20, 2004 tornado outbreak
• April 20, 2017
• April 20-22, 1912 tornado outbreak
• April 2025
• April 2026
• April 20 (holiday)
• April 20–22, 1912 tornado outbreak
• April 20–26, 2007 tornado outbreak sequence
• April 21, 2017
• April 2, 2006, tornado outbreak
• April 2, 2006 tornado outbreak
• April 2, 2017
• April 22, 2017