Filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk has received the territory鈥檚 highest honour for his creative vision, which has taken Nunavut Inuit to an international audience.

Nunavut鈥檚 Commissioner Nellie Taptaqut Kusugak, in her capacity of Chancellor of the Order of Nunavut, presided over Kunuk鈥檚 investiture at the legislative assembly the evening of June 5.

After calling Kunuk a great ambassador for Nunavut, Kusugak listed a few of the many films Kunuk has made, which show the world Inuit traditional skills and culture, in Inuktitut.

Kunuk, co-founder of Igloolik Isuma Productions, was previously named an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Long before the first ever Inuktitut-language feature-length film Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner hit the big screen in 2001 鈥� and winning the prestigious Camera d鈥橭r at 54th Cannes Film Festival 鈥� Isuma had already made at least 20 films.

The company had by then won numerous awards, and institutions all over the world had Isuma productions in their collections: Museum of Modern Art, New York University, National Gallery of Canada, Museum of 黑料吃瓜网 Peoples in Hokaido, Japan, to name just a few.

In 1999, as he was getting ready to film Atanarjuat, he spoke to Nunavut News.

鈥淲e鈥檙e staging Atanarjuat in the 16th century. We鈥檒l have no rifles, no metal,鈥� said Kunuk. 鈥淥nly bone and ivory and rock. The sleds are made out of whalebone. We made one of the sleds out of walrus hide. What we do is we freeze it and make it into a sled. All the clothing is caribou and seal. The goggles are bone. All their tools 鈥� the closest to metal is rock, rock ulus. Cooking pots in stone and qulliqs in stone, everything. That鈥檚 what we鈥檝e been working on these years.鈥�

That鈥檚 the hard work, attention to detail and creative vision that would see Atanarjuat chosen as the greatest Canadian film of all time by filmmakers and critics at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.

Kunuk is always working on films, such as 2016鈥檚 feature-length drama Maliglutit (Searchers) and, most recently, he and the Isuma collective have been live-streaming, despite, as he said to those assembled at the legislative assembly, Nunavut鈥檚 terrible connectivity.

As Kusugak noted, a live-stream of seal-hunting outside Iglulik showed at the 2019 Venice Biennale鈥檚 Canadian pavilion May. She also spoke of Kunuk鈥檚 work with the Haida of British Columbia.

Sgaawaay K鈥檜una (Edge of the Knife) is filmed entirely in Haida dialects, said Kusugak, in an effort to revitalize Haida languages. Kunuk was an executive producer, and Isuma the distributor.

In his own speech at the legislative assembly, Kunuk remembered the early films, pre- Atanarjuat, from 1992, when his curiosity and attention to detail were developing.

鈥淏ecause I didn鈥檛 understand the ayaya songs very much 鈥� they all sounded the same,鈥� he said via translation, 鈥淚 sat with elders for a full week. I learned how they create a song. They have 200 songs, all in their heads. There鈥檚 a story to every song.鈥�

The Iglulik company also launched the internet-based Isuma TV, which, if Nunavut technology could catch up, said Kunuk, has much greater potential. He鈥檇 also like to see more independent Nunavut-made television.

鈥淎vailable to all Nunavut communities, available to watch 24 hours a day. It鈥檚 one of our dreams,鈥� he said.

鈥淲e鈥檒l be filming walrus hunting possibly in August. We have to make sure the people are informed. We have to find out what Inuit are afraid of and what they鈥檙e joyful about, and what their challenges are. That鈥檚 why Isuma was created.鈥�

All this from a videographer/filmmaker whose hometown only got television in 1982 鈥� the elders kept it out until the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation was formed 鈥� and who was a carver by trade.

鈥淚n Repulse Bay I saw a video camera and I decided to have one too. I brought some carvings down to Montreal, sold them, and bought my first TV set, 26-inch, a porta pack and camera, and a VCR,鈥� he told Nunavut News in 1999.

And he鈥檚 never looked back. The list of films, series and projects is long, and will only get longer.

鈥淚f our technology was up to date, we could do many more things,鈥� he said.