I was so pleased to see IsumaTV come up in this class via Ginsberg’s “Screen Memories.” Described on their website as “a collaborative multimedia platform for indigenous filmmakers and media organizations” the production company is creating space for Indigenous storytellers to have a wider audience.
Without a doubt, though self-produced representation, communities are better positioned to preserve and explore the dynamics of culture identity. Interested in knowing more about what they do, I watched an interview of Isuma founders Zacharias Kunuk, Apayata Kotierk, Norman Cohn who sat down with Inuk artist Asinnajaq to talk about their production goals, after which I looked up Asinnajaq to see what kind of art she made.
I found this 2017 film she created, called Three Thousand, here: https://www.onf.ca/film/three-thousand/.
Diving into the NFB’s vast archive, she parses the complicated cinematic representation of the Inuit, harvesting fleeting truths and fortuitous accidents from a range of sources—newsreels, propaganda, ethnographic docs, and work by Indigenous filmmakers. Embedding historic footage into original animation, she conjures up a vision of hope and beautiful possibility.