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29 Jan – 8 Feb 2026

Gathering Place

Qaggiq

Zacharias Kunuk | Canada | 1989 | 58' | | IFFR 2002

This early Igloolik Isuma production already displays the characteristics of the later films. With great accuracy, Kunuk and his team reconstruct a settlement somewhere between the Forties and Fifties of the last century. In this period, the local inhabitants already had contact with whale hunters and missionaries, but it was still a period of nomadic life.Kunuk wrote down the story, but allowed the actors to improvise the dialogue. His camera transports you as a visitor into the everyday life of the community. Kunuk drags you as it were through the eye of the lens into a universe where time fades, the present and past flow into one. The construction of the communal igloo, dancing, making music, just telling stories and minor family problems acquire a different dimension as a result. The importance he attaches to the small and the simple ensure a moving beauty.

Film details

Country of production
Canada
Year
1989
Festival edition
IFFR 2002
Length
58"
Medium/Format
Betacam SP PAL

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