Female Filmmakers of the North
Controversy or Culture?
Both sides of the North Atlantic recently saw documentaries released that cast light on a controversial subject many have strong opinions on, but few know first hand, at least outside of the Arctic region - Sealhunting. What makes it even more interesting is that both documentaries were made by experienced and awarded filmmakers who are young women. In Norway and in Nunavut, Canada.
The making of one film originated in curiosity about this old North Norwegian tradition and the people who still do it, on a single ship where before there was a fleet of two hundred.
The making of the other documentary originated in human rights activism and the ongoing fight of Inuit people for the right to continue living traditionally off the same arctic nature that has kept them alive for thousands of years.
The two films are, Sealers: One last hunt, made by Gry Elisabeth Mortensen and Trude B. Ottersen in Tromsö, North Norway and Angry Inuk, made by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril from Iqaluit in Nunavut, Canada. Interviewing these three filmmakers on their remarkable work, marks the beginning of a series of interviews and articles on women in film in our region, Female Filmmakers of the North.
Read Each Story Here:
Sigridur Petursdottir is an Icelandic journalist, specialising in film and culture. Based in London, Sigridur is a freelance correspondent for RUV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Corporation, where she worked for over a decade making cultural programs and hosting cultural shows for radio and television. She is a published novelist, lecturer, judge on several creative panels, e.g. the Iceland Music awards and Nordisk Panorama and a founding member of the JONAA editorial board.