Zacharias Kunuk ( iu, ᓴᖅᑲᓕᐊᓯ ᑯᓄᒃ, born November 27, 1957) 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 ...

Inuk producer and director most notable for his film '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner'', the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced entirely in

Inuktitut Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...

. He is the president and co-founder with Paul Qulitalik, Paul Apak Angilirq, and the only non-Inuit, ex-New Yorker team member, Norman Cohn, of Igloolik Isuma Productions, Canada's first independent Inuit

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

. '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner'' (2001), the first feature film that was entirely in

was named as the greatest Canadian film of all time by the 2015

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

poll.

Background

Zacharias Kunuk was born in Kapuivik on

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. In 1966 he attended school in

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 ...

. There he carved and sold

soapstone Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the ...

sculptures to afford movie admissions. As his skill improved, he was able to buy cameras and photographed Inuit hunting scenes. When he heard about video cameras in 1981, he purchased a camera and the basic equipment to be able to teach himself how to create his own movies."Zacharias Kunuk."
''Famous, Should Be Famous, and Infamous Canadians.'' (retrieved 29 Jan 2011)

Career

His second film, '' The Journals of Knud Rasmussen'', is a co-production with

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

in which he is a co-writer and co-director with Norman Cohn. It premiered on September 7, 2006, as the opening film at the

. In 2002, Kunuk was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

."Carleton Stories"
''Zacharias Kunuk Shares Intimate Picture of the North.'' (retrieved 27 Feb 2017) He is the son of Enoki Kunuk, a hunter who was lost for 27 days during June 2007 in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

. Kunuk is the co-founder of the Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change Project, along with Ian Mauro of the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

's School of Environmental Studies. The goal of the project is to collect information from Inuit elders for a film about the Inuit perspective on the impact of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

Inuit culture The Inuit are an indigenous people of the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America (parts of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland). The ancestors of the present-day Inuit are culturally related to Iñupiat (northern Alaska), and Yupik (Siberia a ...

and the environment. The project submitted a video to the United Nations for the 2009 COP15 Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change which was presented at Denmark's National Gallery. As of April 2011, Kunuk is developing a project with

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations. In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree o ...

filmmaker

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

about the 18th century conflict between Cree and Inuit, which lasted almost a century. In March 2019, Kunuk was made a member of the Order of Nunavut, the sole member of the Order's 2018 class.

Filmography

Feature films and television: *''Nunavut: Our Land'' (1995) — director and writer of television series *'' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner'' (2001) — director, producer, writer and editor *''Kunuk Family Reunion'' (2004) — director and producer of television documentary *''Weird Sex and Snowshoes: A Trek Through Canadian Cinematic Psyche'' (2004) — appeared in television documentary *'' The Journals of Knud Rasmussen'' (2006) — director, producer and art director *'' Before Tomorrow (Le Jour avant le lendemain)'' (2008) — executive producer *''Tungijuq'' (2009) — executive producer of short *''Home'' (2011) — director and writer of short *'' Sirmilik'' (2011) — director of documentary *'' Searchers'' (2016) *''

Edge of the Knife ''Edge of the Knife'' ( hai, SG̲aawaay Ḵ'uuna, ) is a 2018 Canadian drama film co-directed by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown. It is the first feature film spoken only in the Haida language. Set in 19th-century Haida Gwaii, it tells the c ...

'' (2018) — executive producer *'' Kivitoo: What They Thought of Us'' (2018) *'' One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk'' (2019) *'' Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice'' (2021)

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

In July 2017 the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...

(AMPAS, also known as simply the Academy), invited Kunuk to become a member. The Academy, which has almost 7,000 motion picture professionals as members, is known internationally for their annual Academy Awards, the Oscars. In 2017 they invited 774 new members to join.

Awards

Books

* ''Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice'' (2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kunuk, Zacharias 1957 births Living people Film directors from Nunavut Canadian film producers Inuit from the Northwest Territories Members of the Order of Nunavut Officers of the Order of Canada Best Director Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Inuit filmmakers Best First Feature Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Indspire Awards People from Igloolik Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Short Documentary Film Inuit from Nunavut Best Editing Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Directors of Caméra d'Or winners