Jennie Williams' award-winning National Film Board of Canada (NFB) short, Nalujuk Night, will have its US premiere at DOC NYC from November 10-18, 2021.
Presented as part of the festival's Shorts: She Stories program, Nalujuk Night is a must-see film by a renowned Inuk multidisciplinary artist, bringing Labrador Inuit Traditions and innovative visual storytelling to New York audiences. The film offers a bold new look at Inuit Culture and History, as Williams plunges viewers directly into the action in this frightening black-and-white short about a winter night like no other.
The 13-minute film provides a unique perspective on an Inuit tradition that only occurs once every year in Nunatsiavut, an Inuit territory in northern Labrador.
For 12 years, Williams photographed and researched Nalujuk Night in Nain, the most northern and largest community in Nunatsiavut, resulting in an acclaimed work that gives audiences an up-close look at an exhilarating, sometimes terrifying, tradition.
Synopsis
Every January 6, from the dark of the Nunatsiavut night, the Nalujuit appear on the sea ice. They walk on two legs, yet their faces are animalistic, skeletal and otherworldly. Snow crunches underfoot as they approach their destination: the Inuit community of Nain. Despite the frights, Nalujuk Night is a beloved annual event, showing that sometimes it can be fun to be scared. Rarely witnessed outside of Nunatsiavut, the event is an exciting chance for Inuit, young and old, to prove their courage and come together as a community to celebrate culture and tradition.
Festivals and awards
- Best Atlantic Short Documentary: FIN Atlantic International Film Festival
- World premiere - FIN Atlantic International Film Festival
- Festival du Nouveau Cinéma
- imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
- John's International Women's Film Festival
- Vancouver International Film Festival
- American Indian Film Festival
About Jennie Williams
Jennie Williams is an Inuk visual artist and a throat singer from Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Labrador. Now based in St. John's, she is a professional photographer who creates powerful images that convey the cultural landscape and lived experience of Inuit. Her stirring photography has received national acclaim, and has been included in exhibitions and publications such as the travelling exhibition SakKijâjuk, Future Possible at The Rooms Provincial Gallery and the Bonavista Biennale, Inuit Art Quarterly, and Canadian Art. Her work has been recognized through honours such as the Elbow Room Residency and the Hnatyshyn Foundation's REVEAL Indigenous Art Award.
Production credits
Nalujuk Night is produced through the NFB's Labrador Documentary Project initiative, which supports Indigenous storytelling by working with first-time Labrador Inuit filmmakers to create and distribute Inuit stories from Inuit perspectives. The producers are Latonia Hartery, Rohan Fernando, and Kat Baulu, with Annette Clarke as executive producer.
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