On the Ice
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''On the Ice'' is a 2011 American
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
written and directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean. The film is set in (and was shot on location in)
Utqiagvik, Alaska Utqiagvik ( ik, Utqiaġvik; , , formerly known as Barrow ()) is the borough seat and largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the northernmost cities and towns in the ...
, MacLean's home town, and follows two Iñupiaq teenagers who, while on a
seal hunt Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. Seal hunting is currently practiced in ten countries: United States (above the Arctic Circle in Alaska), Canada, Namibia, Denmark (in self-governing Greenland only), Ice ...
, accidentally kill one of their friends in a fight. Afraid of the consequences, they lie about his death and must grapple with their grief and guilt while attempting to keep their secret. The film is based upon an earlier work of MacLean's, ''Sikumi'', which he released as a short film in 2008. ''On the Ice'' had its world premiere on January 21, 2011, at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
.


Synopsis

Three friends head out on the ice to hunt seal, but a fight breaks out, and one is killed. The two remaining friends, Qalli (
Josiah Patkotak Josiah Aullaqsruaq Patkotak (born March 22, 1994) is an Iñupiaq politician from Alaska. He has represented District 40 as a Member of the Alaska House of Representatives since 2021. Patkotak defeated another Iñupiaq candidate, Elizabeth Niiqs ...
) and Aivaaq (Frank Qutuq Irelan), report the death as an accident out of fear and panic. As the Iñupiat community in isolated
Utqiagvik, Alaska Utqiagvik ( ik, Utqiaġvik; , , formerly known as Barrow ()) is the borough seat and largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the northernmost cities and towns in the ...
is close knit, this loss hits the town hard. Qalli struggles to deal with his own guilt and loss while weaving a wider web of lies to handle his father's suspicion and investigation of the day's events. Aivaaq is unable to handle his guilt. He turns to drug and alcohol abuse and lashes out at his friends. The movie focuses on the impact of guilt, secrets, and lies on the teens and their community. Like other examples of Native American Cinema, MacLean's work combines Hollywood filmmaking and Independent filmmaking style to tell a distinctive tribal story.


Cast

*
Josiah Patkotak Josiah Aullaqsruaq Patkotak (born March 22, 1994) is an Iñupiaq politician from Alaska. He has represented District 40 as a Member of the Alaska House of Representatives since 2021. Patkotak defeated another Iñupiaq candidate, Elizabeth Niiqs ...
as Qalli *Frank Qutuq Irelan as Aivaaq *Teddy Kyle Smith as Egasak *Adamina Kerr as Michelle *Sierra Jade Sampson as Uvlu *John Miller as James *Rosabelle Kunnanna Rexford as Aaka *Vernon Kanayurak as Roscoe *Billyjens Hopson as Jens *Jay Rapoza as Max *Allison Warden as Sigvaun *Denae Brower as Darlene *
Tara Sweeney Tara MacLean Sweeney (born July 28, 1973) is an Iñupiaq American businesswoman and former government official who served as assistant secretary of the interior for Native American affairs from July 2018 to January 2021. Sweeney previously serv ...
as Dora *Tasha Taaqpak Panigeo as Charlene *Jerica Aamodt as Ellie


Reception

Critical reception for ''On the Ice'' has been mixed. The film holds a rating of 59 on ''
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
'' (based on 12 reviews) and 64% on ''
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
'' (based on 14 reviews). Despite this, the film has performed well at film festivals where it has received multiple awards. A reviewer for the ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...
'' called the film's polar setting "a perfect match for the ilm'snoir tone" while also criticizing the movie's acting. A reviewer for ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave the movie a B+ rating, remarking "The performances, all from non-professional local actors, are noticeably uneven, but the film is as much a portrait of a place as it is a narrative, and cinematographer Lol Crawley shoots the white-on-white polar expanses like they’re vistas stretching to the ends of the earth—which in a way, they are." The late
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
praised the film for its suspense and finds the local actors convincing, noting that "guilt almost paralyzes Qalli".


Awards

*''Best First Feature'' at the
Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
(2011, won) *''Crystal Bear Award'' at the Berlin International Film Festival (2011, won) *''Haskell Wexler Award for Best Cinematography'' at the
Woodstock Film Festival The Woodstock Film Festival is an American film festival that was launched in 2000 by filmmakers Meira Blaustein and Laurent Rejto with the goal to bring high quality independent film to the Hudson Valley region. The festival takes place each fa ...
(2011, won) *''Jury Prize for Best Feature Film'' at the Woodstock Film Festival (2011, won) *''Best New American Film'' at the
Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...
(2011, won) *''Best Director'' at the
American Indian Film Festival The American Indian Film Festival is an annual non-profit film festival in San Francisco, California, United States. It is the world's oldest venue dedicated solely to Native American/First Nations films and prepared the way for the 1979 formati ...
(2011, won) *''Best Film'' at the
Cine Las Americas International Film Festival The Cine Las Americas International Film Festival is an annual film festival based in Austin, Texas, featuring Latin American and indigenous films from the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula. In its 14th year in 2011, the Festival grew into a cit ...
(2011, honorable mention) *''Grand Jury Prize'' at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
(2011, nominated)


References


External links

* * * * *{{rotten tomatoes, on_the_ice 2011 films American drama films 2011 drama films Inupiat-language films Films set in Alaska Films shot in Alaska Films set in the Arctic Inuit films American independent films 2011 directorial debut films 2011 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films