The Journals of Knud Rasmussen is a 2006 Canadian-Danish

Cinema of Denmark

Denmark has been producing films since 1897 and since the 1980s has maintained a steady stream of product due largely to funding by the state-supported Danish Film Institute. Historically, Danish films have been noted for their realism, religious and moral themes, sexual frankness and technical...

 film about the pressures on the traditional Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

 culture when explorer Knud Rasmussen introduces Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an cultural influences. Produced by Isuma

Isuma

Isuma is Canada's first Inuit production company co-founded by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn in Igloolik, Nunavut in 1990...

, the film was directed by Zacharias Kunuk

Zacharias Kunuk

Zacharias Kunuk, is a Canadian Inuk producer and director most notable for his film Atanarjuat, the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced completely in Inuktitut...

, who also directed the award-winning Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

 film Atanarjuat

Atanarjuat

Atanarjuat is a 2001 Canadian film directed by Zacharias Kunuk. It was the first feature film ever to be written, directed and acted entirely in Inuktitut...

, and Norman Cohn

Norman Cohn

Norman Rufus Colin Cohn FBA was a British academic, historian and writer who spent fourteen years as a professorial fellow and as Astor-Wolfson Professor at the University of Sussex.-Life:...

. It premiered on September 7, 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

, after pre-release screenings in Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

 communities in Canada and Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

.

The cast includes Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, Pakkak Innushuk, Natar Ungalaaq

Natar Ungalaaq

Natar Ungalaaq is a Canadian Inuit actor, filmmaker, and sculptor whose artwork is in many major collections of Inuit art worldwide...

, Neeve Uttak, Pierre Lebeau

Pierre Lebeau

Pierre Lebeau is a Quebec actor. He is best known for major roles in Quebec big-box movies such as Séraphin: un homme et son péché and the four-part Les Boys series.-Acting background:...

, Kim Bodnia

Kim Bodnia

-Movie career:He has appeared in several of the successful Danish films from the 1990s and 2000s, e.g. Nattevagten , Pusher, and Bleeder, the latter two directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, and the two Lasse Spang Olsen films In China They Eat Dogs, Old Men in New Cars and Terribly Happy.Bodnia has...

 and Jens Jørn Spottag.

Synopsis

Set primarily in and around Igloolik in 1922, the film depicts the relationship between a group of Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

 in Arctic Canada and three Danish ethnographers and explorers, Knud Rasmussen, Therkel Mathiassen

Therkel Mathiassen

Therkel Mathiassen was an archaeologist, anthropologist, cartographer, and ethnographer notable for his scientific study of the Arctic....

 and Peter Freuchen

Peter Freuchen

Peter Freuchen, born Lorenz Peter Elfred Freuchen was a Danish explorer, author, journalist and anthropologist.-Biography:...

 during Rasmussen's "Great Sled Journey" of 1922. The film is shot from the perspective of the Inuit, showing their traditional beliefs and lifestyle. It tells the story of the last great Inuit shaman and his beautiful and headstrong daughter; the shaman must decide whether to accept the Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

religion that is converting the Inuit across Greenland.

External links

• Across Arctic America (1927), Knud Rasmussen's book which the film is based from.
• "New York Times Review," provides an excellent background prior to viewing.
• The Journals of Knud Rasmussen
• - Production Studio of The Journals of Knud Rasmussen - based on Turtle Island
• Before Tomorrow - Upcoming Isuma Production