A great un-shaming is uniting and healing Inuit and LGBTQ communities in the eastern Arctic. The territory of Nunavut was built upon decades of relocation, re-education, and Christianization of nomadic Inuit people. Colonization and shame have shadowed the community, hitting LGBTQ people especially hard, as the systematic destruction of native culture has driven the Inuit’s original complex, inclusive sense of sexual orientation and family structure underground. Directors Woods and Yerxa methodically trace colonization from the 1950s, through the gradual thaw leading to LGBTQ protections in the Nunavut human rights act in 2003, up to the current state of affairs. The moving story comes alive through the voices of returning LGBTQ Inuit adults and the new generation of youth; tribal elders reviving ancient inclusiveness; white LGBTQ activists and scholars; and an Inuit filmmaker and LGBTQ ally who’s making it all visible. As indigenous values and contemporary mores come together, the way opens up for Inuit people to lead this continuing and exciting journey.

— Carol Harada

PRECEDED BY:

He Who Has Two Souls

DIR Fabrice Luang-Vija 2015 France 17 min In this gorgeous animated tale, an Inuit man hunts like the best of men and sews like the best of women. Tension builds like a taut bowstring about whom he should take as a partner, and the arrow hits home when he meets his match.

Co-presented by:

Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS)

Consulate General of Canada

Green Film Fest