Three Circumpolar Indigenous Films Screening at TIFF
This year, three circumpolar Indigenous feature-length films will have their world premieres at Canada’s largest film festival, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) from September 10 to 20.
Brace Your Heart (2026) is a drama by Sámi filmmaker Amanda Kernell. Set in a remote Sámi mountain village, the film follows 20-year-old Ejva as she navigates love, betrayal, and the responsibility of preserving her family’s way of life after she inherits her late father’s reindeer herd. The film stars Elli Sara Valkeapää, Vincent Niia, and Andte Gaup-Juuso, who are reindeer herders and emerging actors, and is performed primarily in the Northern Sámi language, with some Swedish dialogue.
Co-directed by Dutch filmmaker Jaap van Heusden and Inuk actor Vinnie Karetak, In Alaska (2026) is a thriller that follows a troubled Inuk teen forced to flee across the Arctic after an accidental shot at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline sparks an FBI manhunt. The film stars Inuk emerging actor Leo Matthew Temela and Swedish actor Noomi Rapace and features Inuit actors Joanassie Aupaluk, Miali Buscemi, and Zorga Qaunaq.
Inuk filmmaker Nyla Innuksuk returns to TIFF with In the Heart of the South (2026), a psychological thriller that follows Yura Ivalu, a successful Inuk artist whose carefully constructed life begins to unravel when a childhood friend, Sesi, unexpectedly resurfaces. Starring Inuit actors Anna Lambe and Zorga Qaunaq, the film blends psychological suspense with subtle supernatural elements while examining the Canadian art world’s treatment of Indigenous artists.
A Celebratory Event with Cheekbone Beauty and the NGC
On September 17, the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) in Ottawa, ON, is hosting a special event in collaboration with Indigenous-owned cosmetic company Cheekbone Beauty to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the company’s For Future Generations Indigenous Youth Scholarship Fund with an evening that celebrates Indigenous creativity, art, and beauty. The event will feature a Cheekbone Beauty pop-up; a panel on art, beauty, and Indigenous futures; and a talk by Inuvialuk and Gwich’in visual artist Darcie Bernhardt—whose oil painting Picking Akpiks (2021) inspired Cheekbone Beauty’s latest lip collection and is on view at the NGC’s Qillaniq (2026) exhibition. Lipstick kits will be available for purchase during the event, with proceeds supporting the scholarship fund.
Jennie Williams’s Short Film to Premiere at AIFF
Inuk photographer and filmmaker Jennie Williams’s short film Billy Gauthier: Carving the Future (2026) will have its world premiere at the Atlantic International Film Festival in Halifax, NS, on September 20. Williams’s short film offers an intimate portrait of Inuk sculptor Billy Gauthier, following his meticulous creative process and revealing the inspiration behind one of his most notable sculptures, Silatsualimâk Anânavut: The Earth, Our Mother (2023), which he made as part of the 2023 Bonavista Biennale. In 2022, William’s debut short documentary film Nalujuk Night (2021) won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Short Documentary at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards.
Ottawa Film Festivals Highlighting Circumpolar Indigenous Films
The Other Ones (2026), an animated short co-directed by Inuk writer, poet, and emerging filmmaker Jamesie Taligvat Evaluardjuk Fournier and Qallunaaq producer, illustrator, and art director Danny Christopher, will make its world premiere at the Ottawa International Animation Festival on September 24. The film is based on Fournier’s 2022 debut collection of short stories with the same name, which follows a mother and daughter whose quiet lives are disrupted by ancient spiritual beings that the daughter accidentally awakens. The short features voice performances by Inuit artists Celina Kalluk, Elizabeth Ryan, and Vinnie Karetak and has an original score by Inuit throat-singing duo PIQSIQ, composed of sisters Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk Mackay.
The Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival is a Indigenous-run, artist-centred festival in Ottawa that showcases contemporary and innovative Indigenous arts from around the globe. The 15th Season of the festival runs from September 15 to 20 and features a number of circumpolar Indigenous productions, including Inuk filmmaker Crystal Martin’s short documentary, The Lines She Carries (2026). The film follows Martin as she prepares to receive her tunniit, or traditional Inuit facial tattoos, and reflects on the ongoing effects of residential schools on cultural practices.
Susan Aglukark's Upcoming Shows and Single
Inuk singer-songwriter Susan Aglukark, OC, will be touring across Ontario this year, beginning as part of the Together for Nature tour in Ottawa on September 15, and closing with her holiday show, Upinnaq: A Beautiful Christmas from November to December. Aglukark is also preparing to release her new single “For You” soon, which will be the lead single from her upcoming EP, Disco Ball. The song began as a poem, Igvit (2022), which means “you” in Inuktitut, and it has since evolved into a collaborative project spanning multiple Indigenous nations, including work from the Inuksuk Drum Dancers from Nunavut; Sweleyén, also known as Julianne Peters, of the Tsq̓éscen̓ First Nation in Secwepemcúĺecw (Shuswap), BC; and Inuk classical singer and composer Deantha Edmunds, CM. A portion of the song’s proceeds will benefit the Orange Shirt Society and Aglukark’s Arctic Rose Foundation, which delivers Indigenous-led arts programming for northern Indigenous youth. A four-time Juno Award winner, Aglukark was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2005 and received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in 2016.
Norma Dunning Releases Her Latest Novel
Inuk writer Norma Dunning’s new novel Naoyak (2026) was released on September 1. Set between Nunavut and Alberta, the novel follows Naoyak Aupak, a young Inuk mother determined to leave Iqaluit, NU, in search of a better life in southern Canada. Travelling with her son, Andy, and an awkward southern researcher named Drew, Naoyak soon finds herself navigating culture shock, class divides, casual racism, and paternalism. In 2021, Dunning’s sophomore novel, Tainna: The Unseen Ones (2021), won the Governor General’s Literary Prize for Fiction.
Several Circumpolar Indigenous Works at NIFF
From September 15 to19, the Nuuk International Film Festival (NIFF) in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) will celebrate Greenlandic and international filmmaking through screenings, workshops, panel discussions, and industry events. NIFF has become a key platform for highlighting the works of circumpolar Indigenous filmmakers. Among this year’s highlights is Árru (2026), Sámi choreographer and filmmaker Elle Sofe Sara’s debut feature and the world’s first Sámi yoik drama. The film follows Maia, portrayed by Sámi juoigi (yoiker) Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska, a reindeer herder who must choose between protecting her ancestral lands from mining or preserving her family.
The festival will also screen Sukkaillutit Uqaruk – Say It Slowly (2026), a documentary short by Inuk author and filmmaker Ashley Qilavaq-Savard, which won the Best Short Documentary at the Bracciano Film Festival in May, and Siõrškuäđam - Hidden Steps (2025), an experimental short documentary co-directed by Skolt Sámi dancer and choreographer Laura Feodoroff and Finnish dance filmmaker Kati Kallio.
Throughout the festival, audiences can also experience Tartupaluk (2026), an interactive virtual reality work by Kalaaleq multidisciplinary artist and curator Laakkuluk Williamson. Set on a small Arctic island situated in the territorial waters of Canada and Kalaallit Nunaat, the immersive project invites participants to become citizens of the fictional Republic of Tartupaluk in a poetic and satirical exploration of borders, belonging, and connection.