Filmmakers Nyla Innuksuk and Jennie Williams come together to discuss their work in the North at the “Arctic Chills and Horror” panel, produced by St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival. St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival is one of the longest-running women’s film festivals in the world. Established in 1989 with a bold vision of supporting and promoting women’s creative work in screen-based industries, the Festival has grown from a single evening of screenings to a province’s flagship film festival.
Panelist Nyla Innuksuk’s sci-fi feature film Slash/Back, shot in Pangnirtung, premiers at SxSW this month. It heralds a lesson for aliens: do not mess with the girls from Pang. Williams’ Nalujuk Night is a bone-chilling doc where terror and fun collide on a dark winter’s night in Nain. It is currently nominated for best short documentary at the CSAs. The filmmakers also discuss the challenges of filming in the Arctic, the rise of horror and sci-fi across the circumpolar world, and the power of Inuit storytelling. This conversation is moderated by producer and director Latonia Hartery.
The panel will be available to watch online for free as of March 17th at 1 PM (NST).
Nyla Innuksuk is the founder of Mixtape. A writer for Marvel Comics, Innuksuk co-created the character of Snowguard, a teenage superhero from Pangnirtung, Nunavut. Nyla’s directorial debut, an alien invasion feature titled slash/back, will have its premiere at SXSW. She is developing a second narrative feature, TV projects, and a short horror film that will be shot with 8 cameras at once and be displayed on a 270 degree, 24K screen at the 2022 Venice Biennale. Working in mixed media allows Nyla to channel her passions for technology and genre storytelling among mediums that include interactive graphic novels, film, television, and synthetic experiences. Originally from Nunavut, Nyla currently lives in Toronto.
Jennie Williams is an Inuk visual artist and throat singer from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. Her stirring photography has received national acclaim, was included in the traveling exhibition SakKijâjuk, and is curated as part of the Future Possible series at The Rooms Provincial Gallery and the Bonavista Biennale (2021). Jennie’s photos have also been featured in established magazines such as Inuit Art Quarterly and Canadian Art. Her work has been recognized through honors such as the Elbow Room Residency and the Hnatyshyn Foundation’s REVEAL Indigenous Art Award (2017). Her longest-running project is a 12-year photographic series on the Labrador tradition entitled Nalujuk Night.
Latonia Hartery is a filmmaker from Bay D’Espoir, NL. Under the banner of LJH Films, she has created a range of work including short historical dramas like Sadie and The Death of Winter, to the feature film comedy Hopeless Romantic. Her documentary experience spans 13 different countries. She has a PhD with a focus on the Indigenous archaeology, culture, and history of Newfoundland, Labrador, and the Arctic. Her passion for this topic has resulted in education, research, and film projects with Indigenous and rural communities for over 20 years.
