Posthumanism: Cinema Philosophy Media: A Roundtable Series
Announcing the Inaugural Event:
‘Running Time’: Atanarjuat 20th Anniversary Roundtable and Celebration
Oct. 06, 2021, 6:00-9:00 pm EST (via Zoom)
Twenty years ago this fall saw the release of Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner: “an exciting action thriller set in ancient Igloolik, the film unfolds as a life-threatening struggle of love, jealousy, murder and revenge between powerful natural and supernatural characters” (IsumaTV). The first-ever feature fiction film in Inuktitut, written, directed, produced, and performed by an Inuit cast and crew, Atanarjuat went on to win six Genie awards, including Best Picture and the Camera d’or for best first feature film at the 2001 Cannes International Film Festival, among many other awards. In 2015 it was voted the best Canadian film of all time.
Well before contemporary debates around identity politics, cultural appropriation, and equity, diversity, and inclusivity, Atanarjuat set the terms of the discussion while laying out a vision for the future of Indigenous peoples in Canada and around the world—a vision of self-determination, however, that has yet to be fulfilled. The past twenty years has seen Atanarjuat’s significance manifest in several different ways: as a story the film continues to resonate all over the world with Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences alike; as cultural object the film stands as one of the most significant achievements of Indigenous self-representation; as a film Atanarjuat represents a great work of art cinema.
This roundtable brings together key members of the original team behind the film—writer-director Zacharias Kunuk and Lucy Tulugarjuk (Puja)—with an international panel of scholars: Erich Fox Tree (Associate Professor, Religion and Culture, WLU); Jenny Kerber (Associate Professor, English and Film Studies); Pauline Clague (Associate Professor, Manager of Cultural Resilience Hub, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research, University of Technology, Sydney); Simone Bignall (Senior Researcher in the Jumbunna Research Hub for Indigenous Nations and Collaborative Futures, University of Technology, Sydney).
For more information contact: Russell Kilbourn > rkilbourn@wlu.ca
Zoom registration link: https://wilfrid-laurier.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUrcOqgpz8jGtazM3ZJ4HbhSV11jvpAf3nc
The organizers wish to thank SSHRC, the Posthumanism Research Institute, the WLU Student’s Union, the Faculty of Arts, and the Department of English and Film Studies for supporting this event.
