The Journals of Knud Rasmussen | |
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DVD cover
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Directed by |
Zacharias Kunuk Norman Cohn |
Produced by |
Lucius Barre Norman Cohn Zacharias Kunuk Elise Lund Larsen Stephane Rituit Vibeke Vogel |
Written by |
Eugene Ipkarnak Madeline Ivalu Herve Paniaq Pauloosie Qulitalik Lucy Tulugarjuk Abraham Ulayuruluk Louis Uttak |
Starring |
Natar Ungalaaq Pierre Lebeau Leah Angutimarik Jens Jørn Spottag Neeve Irngaut |
Music by | Richard Lavoie |
Cinematography | Norman Cohn |
Edited by |
Cathrine Ambus Norman Cohn Félix Lajeunesse |
Distributed by |
Alliance Atlantis SF Film |
Release date
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March 11, 2006 (Igloolik screening) September 7, 2006 (Canada) October 8, 2006 (USA) November 10, 2006 (Denmark) |
Running time
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112 minutes |
Country | Canada Denmark |
Language | Inuktitut Danish English |
Budget | $6,300,000 (estimated) |
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen is a 2006 Canadian-Danish film about the pressures on traditional Inuit shamanistic beliefs as documented by Knud Rasmussen during his travels across the Canadian Arctic in the 1920s. Produced by Isuma, the film was directed by Zacharias Kunuk, who also directed the award-winning Inuit film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, and Norman Cohn. It premiered on September 7, 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival, after pre-release screenings in Inuit communities in Canada and Greenland.
Set primarily in and around Igloolik in 1922, the film depicts the encounter between a group of Inuit in Arctic Canada led by one of the last shamans of the Canadian Inuit, Aua, and three Danish ethnographers and explorers, Knud Rasmussen, Therkel Mathiassen and Peter Freuchen during the latter's "Great Sled Journey" of 1922. The film is shot from the perspective of the Inuit, showing their traditional beliefs and lifestyle. The shaman and his entourage must ultimately decide whether to join the ranks of another group of Inuit who have converted to Christianity.