An award-winning television series produced by the creative team from The Fast Runner, Nunavut brought to life the story of the Inuit people living in the Igloolik region of the Canadian Arctic in the 1940s. The series dramatized true stories of contemporary Elders, whose memories of early days growing up just before government and settlement life began were captured in weekly thirty-minute sequences. The opening episode is set in Igloolik in the spring of 1945 and focuses on a family traveling in the immense and beautiful arctic spring. Inuaraq teaches his young son how to survive in the old way: driving the dogs, building the igloo, catching seals on the open water, and running down caribou to feed the family.

Mary Kunuk is the sister of director Zacharias Kunuk. In this animated work, she explores stories of songs recalled from her own childhood. As she has said, “Recording them on video is my way of keeping them alive.”

In his most recent documentary, Kunuk explores Inuit memories and experiences of shamanism as he documents oral histories about the last shamans practicing in the region of Igloolik, Nunavut. Elders discuss how shamanistic practice was influenced by Catholic and Anglican missionaries who came to the north and incorporated Christian figures into the Inuit pantheon, like the evil spirit “Satanasi.” Interviewees range from young people to elders and politicians, all of whom share a belief that “things happen” and that shamanism remains a living religion.