Atanarjuat is the first feature film in the Inuktitut language, spoken by the Inuit tribes of northern Canada. The film was shot in the Arctic wastelands and deals with an ancient legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace. One of the most acclaimed films of the year, Atanarjuat is an extraordinary, triumphant experience. When a small, nomadic community is cursed by an unknown shaman, the curse is still felt years later. Atanarjuat falls in love with Atuat, a woman already promised to the son of the clan's leader. In a fight, she is won by Atanarjuat causing vengeful clan leader Oki to plot to attack Atanarjuat and his brother in their sleep. Atanarjuat manages to escape and sets off running across the ice, embarking on a harrowing adventure to survive in the brutal wilderness. His journey ends when he returns, stronger and wiser, to reclaim his life and stop the curse that has divided his people.
The film was shot on widescreen digital video by Norman Cohn who was one of the few non-Inuit crew members on the shoot. Kunuk and his crew meticulously re-created the conditions the Inuit tribes lived under before exposure to Southern influences, using information handed down from tribe elders and the journals of Captain William Edward Parry, a British explorer who visited the area in 1822.
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