Angry Inuk

Synopsis

“How does a tiny remote village change the mind of a billion people?” Angry Inuk follows filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril on a deeply personal journey to answer this question and challenge public perceptions of Inuit seal hunting. This film considers the layered significance of seal hunting in the Canadian Arctic, as both a vital food source and a link to the global economy through the seal-skin market. Arnaquq-Baril foregrounds the structural injustices of global governance, showing how European Union bans on seal skin products—bolstered by non-state actors such as Greenpeace—devastate the Inuit seal skin industry and undermine local livelihoods. At the same time, Angry Inuk exposes the material violences of misrepresentation, as mainstream media perpetuate harmful colonial stereotypes on a mass scale. Angry Inuk reclaims the narrative, offering a defiant assertion of Inuit cultural, economic, and representational sovereignty.

Director Bio

Inuk filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril is an independent filmmaker based in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Raised by a mother who was passionate about preserving and promoting Inuit language and culture, Arnaquq-Baril was influenced to work to be a voice for Inuit through her films. She researches, explores and documents Inuit cultural practices and the histories of these practices. Her award-winning films include Lumaajuuq and Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos. Alethea graduated from Sheridan College in Ontario in illustration and art fundamentals, and received animation training at the Banff Centre. She works as a director, producer, and animator, and also runs a film production company called Unikkaat Studios Inc.. Her films have been screened in major Canadian and international festivals and selected for multiple awards. She is currently a co-showrunner and executive producer on the acclaimed television series North of North (2025). 

Distribution

National Film Board of Canada
https://www.nfb.ca/film/angry_inuk/ 

 

The world just has to listen a little harder when we speak.