Marie-Hélène Cousineau is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

film director and producer."Cinq questions à... Marie-Hélène Cousineau"
'' La Presse'', October 18, 2013. Originally from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, she moved to

Igloolik Igloolik ( Inuktitut syllabics: , ''Iglulik'', ) is an Inuit hamlet in Foxe Basin, Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, northern Canada. Because its location on Igloolik Island is close to Melville Peninsula, it is often mistakenly thought to be on th ...

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

(now in

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...

) in 1990, where she became a co-founder of the filmmaking collective

Arnait Video Productions Arnait Video Productions (Women's Video Workshop of Igloolik) is a women's filmmaking collective that aims to value the voices of Inuit women in debates of interest to all Canadians. Arnait is related to Isuma Productions. History Arnait was foun ...

. Her most noted film, ''

Before Tomorrow ''Before Tomorrow'' (french: Le jour avant le lendemain) is a Canadian drama film, released in 2008. Directed by Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Ivalu, the film is an adaptation of the novel ''Før Morgendagen'' by Denmark, Danish writer Jø ...

(Le Jour avant le lendemain)'', was co-directed with Madeline Ivalu and released in 2008. Cousineau and Ivalu were shortlisted

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

nominees for

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

, and alongside co-writer

Susan Avingaq Susan Avingaq is an Inuk Canadian film director, producer, screenwriter, and actress. A founding partner in Arnait Video Productions, a women's filmmaking collective based in Igloolik, Nunavut, she is most noted for her work on the film ''Before To ...

for Best Adapted Screenplay, at the

30th Genie Awards The 30th Genie Awards were presented on April 12, 2010 to honour films released in 2009.Uvanga'', and with Avingaq on the documentary film '' Sol''. ''Sol'' is a feature documentary, that explores the mysterious death of a young

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

man, Solomon Uyurasuk. As the documentary investigates the truth to Solomon's death, it sheds light on the underlying social issues of Canada's North that has resulted in this region claiming one of the highest youth

suicide rate The following are lists of countries by suicide rate as published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other sources. About one person in 5,000–15,000 dies by suicide every year, with an estimated global rate of 10.5 per 100,000 popula ...

s in the world. More recently, Cousineau has collaborated with Ivalu on ''

Restless River ''Restless River'' (french: La rivière sans repos) is a Canadian drama film, directed by Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Ivalu and released in 2019. An adaptation of Gabrielle Roy's 1970 novel ''Windflower (La rivière sans repos)'', the fi ...

'', an adaptation of

Gabrielle Roy Gabrielle Roy (March 22, 1909July 13, 1983) was a Canadian author from St. Boniface, Manitoba and one of the major figures in French Canadian literature. Early life Roy was born in 1909 in Saint-Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba, an ...

's unpublished work ''La Rivière sans repos'', previously translated and published as ''Windflower''.

Background

Marie-Hélène Cousineau was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Canada. She received her undergraduate degree in art history from the Université Lavalle, an MA in art history from the Université du Québec à Montréal and an MFA in communication studies and production from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. She has taught at different colleges and at Concordia University in Montreal. Cosinueau moved to Igloolik in 1990 to work with

Zacharias Kunuk Zacharias Kunuk ( iu, ᓴᖅᑲᓕᐊᓯ ᑯᓄᒃ, born November 27, 1957) is a Canadian Inuk producer and director most notable for his film '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner'', the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced entirely in Inukt ...

to establish the Tarriaksuk Video Centre. While in Igloolik she gave a class through the Arctic College in Igloolik on how to make videos. From this class Cosineau was inspired to create a Survey for a Woman’s Video Workshop (1991). This film featured women who wanted to learn to make videos. It was used in a funding application and in 1991 Arnait Ikajurtigiit – which translates to “women helping each other was founded.

Career

Arnait was registered originally as a nonprofit organization. Susan Avingaq, Madeline Ivalu, and Mathilda Hanniliaq, all women from Igloolik along with Cousineau signed as founders of Arnait. Later, Arnait incorporated as a for-profit company to have access to financing. Susan Avingaq, Madeline Ivalu, and Cousineau were the partners in the company, Arnait Video Productions Inc. Cosineau acted as a writer, director and producer at Arnait. In their early work, Arnait utilized short format video to tell women’s stories. In ''Qulliq'' (1993), members of Arnait reenact a traditional women’s activity – the lighting of the ''qulliq'', or the seal oil lamp. In ''Attagutalak Starvation'' (1992), village elder Rose Ukkumaluk recounts the tale of Attagutaaluk, a woman who survived winter starvation by resorting to cannibalism. With ''Inuit Midwives'' (1991), the collective recorded 9hrs of interviews, to preserve Inuit oral storytelling traditions. Arnait was also an early adopter of Internet streaming technologies, producing ''Live from the Tundra'' over the course of five days in August 2001. Around this time, the members of Arnait were involved in the creation of ''Atanarjuat'' ''(The Fast Runner)''''.'' The experience in the production of Antanarjuat inspired them to create feature films such as ''Before Tomorrow'' (2008) and ''Restless River'' (2019). Cosineau also acted as the producer on two television series based in the North – ''The Uluit: Champions of the North'' (2011) and ''Sivummut: Going Forward (2014)''. Arnait has also embarked upon community-based cultural exchange projects in Oaxaca, Mexico and Nuuk, Greenland, extending their original mission to include the voices of indigenous people from outside of Igloolik. Arnait also operates an online channel on Isuma.tv, a collaborative multimedia platform for indigenous filmmakers and media organizations.

Films

* ''Inuit Midwives'' (1991) * ''Attagutalak Starvation (1992)'' *''Quilliq'' (1993) *''Anaana'' (2001) *''

(Le Jour avant le lendemain)'' (2008) (writer and co-director with Madeline Ivalu) *''The Uluit: Champions of the North'' (2011) (producer) *'' Uvanga'' (2013) (writer/director) *'' Sol'' (2014) (co-director with Susan Avingaq and co-writer with Dana Schoel) *''

Tia and Piujuq ''Tia and Piujuq'' ( iu, ᑏᐊ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐱᐅᔪᖅ) is a Canadian family drama film, directed by Lucy Tulugarjuk and released in 2018. The film stars Tia Bshara as Tia, a young girl who has moved with her family to Montreal as refugees fr ...

'' (producer/screenwriter) *''

Angelique's Isle ''Angelique's Isle'' is a 2018 Canadian historical drama film, directed by Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Michelle Derosier. Based on a true story set in 1845, the film stars Julia Jones as Angelique Mott, an Anishinaabe woman who accompanies her ...

'' (2018) (director) *''

(La rivière sans repos)'' (2019) (co-directed with Madeline Ivalu)

References

External links

*
Trois Histoires Vraies de Marie-Hélène Cousineau et Susan Avingak
(interview in French)
Isuma TV
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousineau, Marie-Helene Film directors from Montreal Canadian women film directors Canadian women screenwriters Canadian film producers Canadian documentary film directors Writers from Nunavut Writers from Montreal Living people Canadian screenwriters in French Canadian women film producers Film directors from Nunavut People from Igloolik Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian women documentary filmmakers