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Zach Kunuk

August 2004

Zach KunukBorn 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. 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.

Screened by NMAI

Image credit: Director Zacharias Kunuk - photograph courtesy of Norman Cohn; Zach Kunuk - photograph by Claude Lacasse, Forum, University of Montreal. December 2002

Screened by NMAI

Zacharias Kunuk Interview

Participant, 2006 Native American Film and Video Festival


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