Four Inuit are finalists for this year’s Canadian Screen Awards: Jennie Williams, Zacharias Kunuk, Nadia Mike and Tanya Tagaq. An amalgamation of the Canadian Gemini and Genie Awards that merged in 2013, the Canadian Screen Awards are the biggest film awards in Canada.
Nunatsiavut filmmaker Jennie Williams’ Nalujuk Night (2021), nominated in the 2022 Best Short Documentary category, is a 13-minute documentary about the fun and frightening Nunatsiavut tradition of Nalujuk Night where people dressed as terrifying creatures come in off the ice. Nalujuk Night has already won Best Atlantic Short Documentary at the 2021 FIN Atlantic Film Festival.
Nalujuk Night, Jennie Williams, offert par l'Office national du film du Canada
Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman’s Apprentice (2021), written and directed by Zacharias Kunuk, OC, and produced by Kunuk and Nadia Mike, is nominated in the 2022 Best Animated Short category. In this short animated film, we follow a young shaman go on her first test to learn why a community member has fallen ill. The film has already found success at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, winning the Best Canadian Short Film category.
Singer/songwriter Tanya Tagaq, CM, in collaboration with producer and musician Jean Martin, has also been nominated for the song “Surface Nord” in the 2022 Achievement in Music Original Song category. The track appeared in Caroline Monnet’s film Bootlegger (2021), a story of young Mani, a Masters student who returns home to Northern Quebec and is embroiled in the community debate about allowing the legal sale of alcohol in their community, Tagaq’s haunting vocals along with the deep, low undertones of the accompanying string drone set the stage for a dramatic film experience. Tagaq released her new album Tongues last month.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television will present the Canadian Screen Awards on Sunday, April 10, broadcast on CBC TV.