Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) – This Sunday!
Dir. Zacharias Kunuk | Igloolik, Nunavut | 2025 | 1h 40m
January 18, Dënäkär Zho ballroom 7pm (doors at 6:30)
Igloolik, Nunavut, 2000 BCE. Kaujak (Theresia Kappianaq) and Sapa (Haiden Angutimarik) were promised to each other at birth. After the sudden death of Kaujak’s father, her mother marries a man from another camp tearing the young lovers apart. The promise of a better life quickly turns to a nightmare, with aggressive suitors backed by an evil shaman vying to win Kaujak’s hand. But Kaujak resists, holding on to hope that Sapa will one day make things right.
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“All of my films are based in local stories and traditions from my local area,” said Kunuk. “For me, a film has to not only have a strong, unique story and characters that people can relate to, it also has to be very accurate to the local traditions of my area. I see my role and responsibility as a filmmaker and artist as someone who can record and document our past traditions and culture for future generations, to re-write
our history from our perspective. 100 years from now when we are long gone, our films will still be here to show people how it was done. That is why everything needs to be very accurate, so I work with elders and experts to make sure the dialogue, costumes and clothing, tools, etc. are exactly as it would have been in the past.”
Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) is co-written by Kunuk and Samuel Cohn-Cousineau (Tautuktavuk: What We See, Tia and Piujuq), and produced by Carol Kunnuk, Jonathan Frantz (Tautuktavuk: What We See, The Shaman’s Apprentice, One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk) and Cohn-Cousineau, with Susan Avingaq (Tautuktavuk: What We See, Tia and Piujuq, Uvanga) and Zacharias Kunuk serving as executive
producers and Cecilia Greyson (Tautuktavuk: What We See) as Associate Producer.
Cinematography by Jonathan Frantz and Thomas Leblanc-Murray (Festin Boréal, Me Without You), costume design by Susan Avingaq, production design by Avingaq and Melanie McNicoll (Uvanga) and editing by Kunuk, Frantz and Raphael Sandler (Sam & Jean).
The film is being distributed in Canada by Isuma Distribution International.
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