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First Inuit film makes its mark on Cannes
( 2001-05-21 11:24 ) (7 )

The first feature length movie shot entirely in the Inuit language walked away from the Cannes film festival on Sunday with the coveted best debut award for its director Zacharias Kunuk.

"Atanarjuat the Fast Runner", which was shown outside the main Cannes competition, is based on an ancient Inuit legend and was filmed on location on a remote, northern Canadian island near the Arctic Circle.

It tells the tale of two brothers, Atanajuat and Aamaqjuaq, who fight an evil religious man dividing their small nomadic tribe.

"When we made this film and showed it to the backers we were very happy to see we had done our job. Now we have to see if the outside world accepts it," Kunuk, 44, told a news conference on Sunday.

Kunuk had to beat off some tough competition to take the prestigious debut prize, with Vicky Jenson and Andrew Adamson, who made the hugely popular DreamWorks animation "Shrek", also in the running.

However, Kunuk seemed more concerned by the reception to his film back home than to what the critics said at Cannes.

"This is our bible," he said of the Atanarjuat legend. "All Inuit know the story. It is important to get it right. If one thing is wrong or out of place they will know," he told The Hollywood Reporter magazine in an interview last week.

The $2 million production was made in cooperation with the National Film Board of Canada and the crew said they hoped the picture would act as a counterbalance to "southern" cinematic depictions of native peoples.

From Anthony Quinn's Eskimo in the 1959 film "The Savage Innocents" to the drunken, blood thirsty Indians seen in John Wayne westerns, native peoples have often lamented the way they are portrayed on the big screen.

"Imagine being on the other side of the John Wayne equation," said the film's cinematographer, Norman Cohn.

"Every time you see your father portayed on screen it is as a savage, a drunk or a victim. Our Inuit are normal people. They are funny, they play with their children, they are strong and smart."