There are few more powerful weapons than television to question the dominant representations and generate new meanings. Therefore, it is celebrated that Netflix premiered internationally on April 14 a series about an Inuit community (inhabitants originating in the Arctic Regions), created and executed by INUits. The first season of comedy North of the north It consists of eight endearing and sympathetic episodes of 25 minutes that, above all, challenge the colonial gaze with which the badly called mischimales has been historically portrayed – a term with which, with which, Spoiler Alertthe Inuits offend that they refer to them.
The plot of the first season of the series revolves around the separation of Siaja, a young 26 -year -old Inuit, from her husband, a pilot and hunter of narcissistic seals, in addition to a book abuser, with whom she has a daughter. The narration of how he tries to rebuild his life in Ice Cove, a fictional town of the Canadian Arctic, mixes comic situations typical of the sitcom North American with anticolonialist criticism and comments on intergenerational trauma resulting from repression and violence; And he does it naturally, organic and for all audiences. Neither Mary Poppins and her spoonful of sugar would have managed to sweeten a pill so difficult to digest.
Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Stacey Aglok Macdonald, creators of the Nunavut series (Canada), that the story arose, like so many, a drink night. They had just finished The Grizzliesa very hard feature film about the problems of violence, alcoholism and adolescent suicide in the Canadian Arctic, and wanted to change registration, reach a greater audience. “We wanted to tell a story in which people did not have to prepare emotionally to see it, that they could simply sit and enjoy it, and feel that they could be part of the conversation, as if they were there with us having this talk. We wanted him to feel cozy,” explains Aglok Macdonald, who already had experience with the genre of comedy.
When they got to work, the obligatory confinement of the Covid pandemic did nothing but confirm their desires to write a comforting series, which also was a “love letter” to their community, as Aglok Macdonald says. And although the two creators had worked on documentaries, films and series aimed at the Inuit public, this time they sought a greater impact. “This series, from the beginning, wanted it to be something commercial, striking and that the whole world could understand. It was a very conscious choice and that is why we proposed it to Netflix,” says Arnaquq-Baril, which in Canada is known for his work as a documentary filmmaker.
North of the north It is Netflix’s first original series produced in Canada. The project is a co -production with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) public chain, in collaboration with aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), a channel dedicated to content created by and for the indigenous communities of the country. It was rolled mainly in Iqaluit, the capital of the Canadian Arctic territory of Nunavut, where more than 500 stores participated as extras.
For Arnaquq-Baril, helping to boost the indigenous film community in Nunavut was a fundamental part of the project. “Half the scriptwriter team was Inuit. And in production, we had both inuit professionals already trained in different departments and apprentices who were taking their first steps in the industry, which we integrate into different teams,” he explains.
The pedagogical function extended to non -indigenous members, for whom they organized a workshop with several speakers where participants were able to learn about local history and land claim agreements between the Inuit and the Canadian government. “There are many different nations in all Canada and, of course, in the world, each with its own indigenous experience. The colonization process was different in each place. Therefore, we consider it essential to put on all our cast and visiting team on some historical realities of the Canadian Arctic,” says Aglok Macdonald.
The exchange of experiences and learning between the different populations that participated in the filming is something that Anna Lambe also highlights, the main actress who represents the role of Siaja: “It was very nice to see how many team members who came from the South fell in love with the north and the challenges that involved rolling there. At the same time, many people Inuit fell in love with cinema and television, and now they want to devote themselves to this industry.”
Lambe is originally from Iqaluit, but he has lived in Ottawa for some years, where he moved to study international development and globalization in the university: “I doubted to dedicate myself to the cinema because I did not know what kind of impact I could have. At first glance, everything seemed quite superficial. But over time, and especially working in the field of cinema and indigenous television, I realized the opposite. Infrastructure and the necessary capacity to succeed in this industry, I understood that within it an important activism work is also carried out ”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz2Ty6kgbsg
Among this infrastructure, Lambe stands out Marrow Media, the producer of Arnaquq-Baril and Aglok Macdonald, whose impact goes beyond the representation and visibility of the northern problems, injecting money into an economy that needs it, and supporting the local artistic community: “They did an incredible job looking for indigenous artisanal items. Parkas and all the costume which are very dear and appreciated in the territory, such as Victoria Kakuktinniq, of Victoria’s Arctic Fashion. The art of indigenous designers really raised the series to another level. ”
After the international premiere of the first season, the series went through the TOP TEN Netflix in some countries, including Spain, for a couple of weeks. “It has been very interesting to see how people who are not from the north have wanted to understand it, deepen, learn more about the Inuit and about Nunavut,” says Lambe, who will soon co -star Heart of the Beast With Brad Pitt. The criticism has hosted the project with enthusiasm and the CBC and Netflix announced at the end of April that there will be second season. It seems that North of the north It will put on the map a historically marginalized and unknown town, which until April had few samples of cultural representation at this scale.
