Film screenings – Okpik: Little Village in the Arctic (World Premiere) & Qipisa

Description

An event organised by the Indigenous Studies Discussion Group research network in collaboration with #NSFF2022.

We are delighted to announce that we will be screening Okpik: Little Village in the Arctic (World Premiere) and Qipisa in collaboration with #NSFF2022 as part of the 16th Native Spirit Indigenous Film Festival at 13:30 BST on 2 November 2022.

The film screening will take place in person at the McDonald Seminar Room in the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Downing Site, Cambridge. It will be followed by a hybrid panel discussion and Q&A with the directors. Both films are produced by Inuit filmmakers and the event celebrates the forthcoming International Inuit Day on 7 November.

Download the event poster.

13:30 – 15:00 Film screenings, panel discussion and Q&A, McDonald Institute

15:00 – 16:00 Panel discussion and Q&A (online attendance only)

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Speakers

Panel with Directors

• Tiffany Ayalik (co-Director Okpik: Little village in the Arctic, Inuit from Kugluktuk region, TV presenter, and film actor)
• Myna Ishulutak (Director QIPISA, Inuktitut language teacher & CBC Tausunni radio show host)

Moderator

• Stephanie Land (NHS Musculoskeletal. Specialist physiotherapist, Born and adopted in Edinburgh, Scotland. Indigiqueer of mixed Inupiaq & White heritage)

About the event

International premiere

Okpik: Little Village in the Artctic

Director Tiffany Ayalik, Kylik Kisoun Taylor, 2022, Canada, 45min (Language: English, Western Canadian Inuktitut)

Using local materials and traditional knowledge Inuit/Gwich’in Hunter, Kylik Kisoun will re-establish and re-imagine the lost practice of building an Inuvialuit sod-house with the intention of creating housing security in his traditional territory of the Beaufort Delta. Kylik builds his future at his off-grid camp and creates an opportunity for language and cultural revitalization.

Qipisa

Director Myna Ishulutak, 2016, Canada, 36min (Language: English, Eastern Canadian Inuktitut)

Myna lives in Iqaluit, capital of Nunavut, Inuit territory of Canadian Great North. Wishing to know more about her roots, she leaves everything behind to settle in Pangnirtung with her family. But Myna is gradually faced with another quest: the one to remember her own origins. Because Myna grew up on the other side of the Cumberland Sound, before the depart without return.

Directors’ panel and Q&A 

Tiffany Ayalik is from Yellowknife, NT and is Inuit from the Kugluktuk region. It was in the North, listening to stories from her elders, that she discovered her love of storytelling, and the powerful change that hearing a story can bring about. After receiving her Diploma in Acting from Red Deer College, she continued her studies at the University of Alberta, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. Tiffany travels across Canada and has performed in Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Europe, sharing her blend of story, song, movement, and improv.

Tiffany hosts a TV show called ‘Wild Kitchen’ where she meets interesting people who are closely connected to the land and the food they harvest. ‘Wild Kitchen’ is enjoyed across the North and in 74 million homes in the US on First Nations Experience (FNX). As a host, she shares her Inuit perspective and land use teachings with her guests as they collaborate in harvesting and cooking a meal. As a film actor, Tiffany’s work can be seen at many international film festivals. In Canada, you can see her as Daphne in CBC’s ‘A Christmas Fury’ the spin-off of cult classic ‘Hatching Matching and Dispatching’ and on CBC’s ‘Little Dog’. She produces film and media with long-time collaborator Caroline Cox and their company Copper Quartz Media based out of Yellowknife, NT. Tiffany is a Juno Award winner and often collaborates with her sister, Inuksuk Mackay in their katajjaq (Inuit throat singing) band, PIQSIQ.

Myna Ishulutak grew up in Qipisa, south of Baffin Island. When in Iqaluit, the Nunavut’s capital, she enrolled on the Inuit Studies program course. Through her interest in audiovisual production, Myna co-directs ‘Tajarniit’, a documentary series focusing on how important seal is to Nunavut Inuit. In 2016, Myna produces ‘Qipisa’, a documentary about her life story.

Currently an Inuktitut Instructor at Pirurvik Centre (Iqaluit), Myna hosts a number of television shows for the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation.

Stephanie Land was born and adopted in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is an Indigiqueer of mixed Inupiaq and White heritage with family originally from Nome and Wales, Alaska. Stephanie is a Musculoskeletal Specialist Physiotherapist for the NHS, and an active member of Native in the UK (a small group of Native Americans/First Nations/Inuit based in the UK with the aim of amplifying Indigenous voices and creativity). Recently, the group worked in collaboration with the Exeter Chiefs for Change campaign against the cultural appropriation of Native American Imagery and Culture. Additionally, in 2021 she attended COP26 in Glasgow as part of the delegation for the Inuit Circumpolar Council. A keen sportswoman who has previously represented Scotland in fencing, Stephanie has recently turned her drive to taking part in virtual runs to raise awareness and funds for MMIW and Residential School Survivors.

About the Native Spirit Indigenous Film Festival

Native Spirit was established in 2005 and is the UK’s first Independent organisation promoting contemporary Indigenous Cinema, Media & Artists with Year-round events, an annual Film Festival starting 12 October in London, and a sister festival in Taiwan. The founder of Native Spirit Foundation, Freddy Treuquil, Mapuche leader states: “All the [activists] have come to the conclusion that one objective of making video, radio and television is for the other culture to know us. It is necessary to create a bridge to share our culture in an educational form, without losing our identity.”

In 2007 the Foundation established the Native Spirit Festival to promote Native films, talks and performances in UK and Spain (2009-10). In 2018 Native Spirit Taiwan was created. In 2020 Native Spirit established #microIndigenous with MicroMania Film Festival Buffalo, NY (films 5min +under); and started an initiative to celebrate Native American Heritage Month in UK, in collaboration with American Museum & Gardens in Bath.

The 16th Native Spirit Indigenous Film Festival will run from 12 October to 12 November, 2022. The opening night will be held at the London Welsh Centre on the 28 of October. View the full programme of this year’s festival at www.nativespiritfoundation.org.

For enquiries please contact the Networks Programme Manager.