- Zacharias Kunuk
Infobox actor
name = Zacharias Kunuk
imagesize =
caption =
birthname =
othernames =
birthdate = birth date and age|1957|11|27
location =Kapuivik ,Canada
occupation =film director ,screenwriter & producer
yearsactive =
spouse =
children =
website =Zacharias Kunuk (born 1957) is a Canadian
Inuit producer and director most notable for hisfilm "Atanarjuat ", the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced completely inInuktitut . He is the co-founding president of Igloolik Isuma Productions, Canada's first independent Inuit production company.Early life
Born in Kapuivik, Canada, Zach Kunuk (Inuit) spent his childhood summers traveling and hunting with his family and his winters going to school in Igoolik. In 1983 he started working at the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, which is a regional public broadcasting organization that produces original programming, often in Inuktitut. In 1985 Kunuk began a collaboration with Norman Cohn.
Career
In 1991 they founded Igoolik Isuma Productions with Paulossie Qulitalik and Paul Apak. Isuma's first feature film, Atanarjuat/The Fast Runner portrays a traditional Inuit epic myth, in the Inuktitut language. The film won the Camera d'Or for Best First Feature at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, and six Genie awards in Canada, including Best Picture and Best Director for Kunuk. In 2004, Kunuk won the first Sun Hill Award for Excellence in Native American Filmmaking, a new annual honor from the Harvard Film Archive.
His second film, "
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen ", is a coproduction withDenmark in which he is a co-writer and co-director with Norman Cohn. It premiered on September 7, 2006, as the opening film at theToronto International Film Festival .In 2002, Kunuk was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada .He is the son of
Enoki Kunuk , a hunter who was lost in for 27 days during June 2007 in theArctic tundra .Filmography
*"
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen " (2006)
*"Atanarjuat " (2001)External links
* http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0009281
* [http://www.filmreferencelibrary.ca/index.asp?layid=46&csid1=36&navid=87 Canadian Film Encyclopedia]
*
* [http://www.nativenetworks.si.edu/eng/rose/kunuk_z.htm Nativenetworks]
* [http://ascentmagazine.com/toc.aspx?issueID=34&page=read&subpage=past Zacharias Kunuk profile] at ascentmagazine.com.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
