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What's New

Library and Archives Canada celebrates youth on National Aboriginal Day with launch of Inuuvunga Premiere screening preceded by announcement of NAHO's 12 National Aboriginal Role Models

OTTAWA, June 18, 2004 - In honour of National Aboriginal Day, the National Film Board of Canada, in partnership with the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO), Library and Archives Canada and the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, is proud to announce the premiere of Inuuvunga (I am Inuk, I am Alive).

This documentary film is the result of an NFB program to teach filmmaking to eight Inuit teens in Nunavik, under the guidance of award-winning independent filmmakers Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin. The screening will be on Monday, June 21 at 7:00 pm, at Library and Archives Canada. The filmmakers, the teens and the mayor of Inujuak (Nunavik) will attend and be on hand to meet the public. Preceding the screening, NAHO Executive Director Bernice Downey will announce the 12 National Aboriginal Role Models.

"As a new institution, Library and Archives Canada is proud to continue its tradition of presenting programming that celebrates the lives and heritage of Canada's Aboriginal peoples. Our collection is an invaluable source of information on Aboriginal culture and history. Our new corporate image, the inuksuk, is part of this rich heritage. It speaks a timeless language-one that reflects the permanence of ties between people of the past and present," said Ian E. Wilson, librarian and archivist.

Inuuvunga is the story of eight teenagers in Inujuak, a remote northern town in Nunavik. As they enter their last year of high school, the group welcomes to the classroom filmmakers Daniel Cross (The Street, S.P.I.T.) and Mila Aung-Thwin (Music for a Blue Train), who were invited by the NFB to lead filmmaking workshops at Innalik School. The aim was to provide these teens with the basic skills and equipment to help them document this pivotal year. The result is Inuuvunga, a touching and heart-wrenching journey through the lives of a generation caught between two worlds: the influence of Southern culture that is brought into their homes via satellite, and the traditional Inuit values that their community is desperately trying to salvage. The film was produced by Pierre Lapointe for the National Film Board of Canada.

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For more information, please contact:

Mahalia Verna
NFB Media Relations
Telephone: 514-496-4486
Email: m.verna@nfb.ca

Louisa Coates
Library and Archives Canada Media Relations
Telephone: 613-992-9361
Email: media@lac-bac.gc.ca

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