Alanis Obomsawin Best Documentary AwardimagineNATIVE Film Festival 2016
Audience AwardHot Docs 2016
Official SelectionSt. John's International Women's Film Festival 2016
Womens Inmates' AwardRencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal 2016
Magnus Isacsson AwardRencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal 2016
Award Winner- Social Justice Award for Documentary FilmSanta Barbara International Film Festival
Special Presentation – NATIVeBerlinale - Berlin International Film Festival 2017
Award WinnerCanada’s Top Ten 2017
Award Winner - Audience Choice Award for Best Canadian DocumentaryAvailable Light Film Festival 2017
Official SelectionSydney Film Festival 2017
Audience Choice AwardCinema Politica 2017
If you are interested in hosting your own screening of the film in your work place, community centre or living room, please email us at angryinuk@nfb.ca
Seal hunting, a critical part of Inuit life, has been controversial for a long time. Now, a new generation of Inuit, armed with social media and their own sense of humour and justice, are challenging the anti-sealing groups and bringing their own voices into the conversation. Director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril joins her fellow Inuit activists as they challenge outdated perceptions of Inuit and present themselves to the world as a modern people in dire need of a sustainable economy.
Seal meat is a staple food for Inuit, and many of the pelts are sold to offset the extraordinary cost of hunting. Inuit are spread across extensive lands and waters, and their tiny population is faced with a disproportionate responsibility for protecting the environment. They are pushing for a sustainable way to take part in the global economy, but in opposition stands an army of well-funded activists and well-meaning celebrities.
Arnaquq-Baril and her cameras travel through the Canadian Arctic, giving voice to the people the animal activists rarely bother to meet: the hunters, the craftspeople, the families for whom the seal hunt is a critical part of their livelihood and survival. She follows a group of students to Europe, where they plead the Inuit case before a European Union panel.
The film interweaves the reality of Inuit life with the story of their challenge to both the anti-sealing industry and those nations that mine resources on Inuit lands while simultaneously destroying the main sustainable economy available to the people who live there. As one student said, “We need to stop the cultural prejudice that is imposed on us by not being allowed to benefit from our natural surroundings without having to drill into the ground. And that’s really all we want as a people.”
Producers
Alethea Arnaquq-Baril
Bonnie Thompson
Executive Producers
Bob Moore
Daniel Cross
David Christensen
Director of Photography
Qajaaq Ellsworth
Editor
Sophie Farkas Bolla
Animation
Jonathan Wright
Featuring
Aaju Peter
Lasaloosie Ishulutak
Joannie Ikkidluak
An Unikkaat Studios Inc. production in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada in association with EYESTEEL FILM
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