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Zacharias
Kunuk, OC, ON

Credit: Courtesy Isuma Distribution International Inc.
Zacharias
Kunuk, OC, ON

Medium:

film

Artistic Community:

Iglulik, NU

Date of Birth:

Artists may have multiple birth years listed as a result of when and where they were born. For example, an artist born in the early twentieth century in a camp outside of a community centre may not know/have known their exact date of birth and identified different years.


1957

Work

Biography

Zacharias Kunuk, OC, ON is a filmmaker, sculptor and visual artist based in Iglulik (Igloolik), NU. Kunuk has redefined filmmaking in Canada and has been at the forefront of innovative use of broadcast technology in the North. He is perhaps best known for his debut feature film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) from 2001, the first Canadian feature film produced entirely in Inuktitut. Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) won six Genie Awards and was ranked the No. 1 Canadian film of all time in a 2015 poll conducted by the Toronto International Film Festival. He is the co-founder of Isuma Productions, the first independent Inuit-led film production company in Canada. He continues to create groundbreaking work in the Canadian and Inuit film industries.View Long Biography and Citations

Publications

View All Publications and Details
Title Year Author
Historical Blinds and SITElines: Unsettling the Biennial with Candice Hopkins Winter 2019 Jenn Jackson
Channel Changers November 2019 Jacob Boon
Kunuk’s latest effort earns ‘Best Canadian Film’ in Vancouver October 6, 2019 Derek Neary

Exhibitions

View All Exhibitions and Details
Name Year Gallery
Qaggiq: Gathering Place Sept 18 - Nov 30, 2019 Art Museum at the University of Toronto - University of Toronto Art Centre
Isuma May - Nov 2019 Canada Pavilion
...Here Are Your Instructions : Aboriginal Film and Video 1994 Mendel Art Gallery

Achievements

View All Achievements and Details
Achievement Year Organization
Order of Nunavut 2019 Nunavut Legislative Assembly
Silver for One of a Kind Storytelling 2018 National Magazine Awards
Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award 2017 Toronto Film Critics Association

Filmography

View Filmography and Details
Title Release Date Role
Bowhead Whale Hunting With my Ancestors 2018 Director
SGaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Knife) 2018 Executive Producer
Kivitoo: What They Thought of Us 2018 Director