asinnajaq: Three Thousand

indigenous futures

asinnajaq is a filmmaker, video artist, photographer and curator. The artist was born in Inukjuak, Nunavik, a coastal village bordering the Innuksuak River in northwest Québec. Her films draw on her Inuit heritage and knowledge systems. They invite viewers to reconsider their ideas and preconceptions of Indigenous communities and histories.

“Three Thousand” combines archival videos from the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) with animations, soundscapes and contemporary video footage. Historical cinematic representation of Inuit people is complicated. Video footage from the NFB archives shows only snippets of life taken from outside perspectives. These archival documents blur the boundaries of truth, biases, and reality. asinnajaq confronts these histories by reinterpreting and enlivening the archival footage with animations, video films and soundscapes by other Indigenous filmmakers and artists. Laughter, throat singing and sounds from the northern landscape merge with views of play, basket weaving, care and daily life. These scenes come together to tell a history that challenges colonial simplification of Inuit people. In this film, the artist also imagines a future created for and by Indigenous people, one filled with hope and care for one’s ancestors and future generations.