1958 -THE LIVING STONE, 1959 - PANGNIRTUNG , 1964 - ESKIMO ARTIST KENOJUAK, three very dated films about Inuit aka Eskimo life

Those "do-gooders" at the National Film Board of Canada produced these short films about life in the Artic for the Canadian Inuit aka Eskimos.  Well meaning but they seem really out of it.  A filmmaker named John Feeney was behind these films.  They are just loaded with lots of troupes about the Inuit people that were already outdated when Nanook of the North was released in 1922.  

The theme of The Living Stone is about Inuit sculptures that supposedly release the aura or a spirit living inside the stone. as the stones are molded into figurines.  But what the film really seems to be interested in is reinforcing one cliche after.  It's all here, people living in Igloos, people racing around in dog sleds and eating blubber or something when they are not fighting to survive.  The film does have some nice photography. The running time is 32 minutes.

Next up is Pangnitrtung a film about a government outpost in the middle of nowhere in Canada.  The outpost was originally founded by the Hudson's Bay Company in the early 1920's and is close to the North Pole. This film finds the Canadian government providing medical and educational services to the local natives.  The outpost has a school where the Inuit kids are being drilled by a rather scary looking teacher to abandon their native language in favor of the Queen's English.  This is not exactly an open minded point of view.  Pangnitrtung is probably the most problematic of the three films.  It's just a given that being assimilated into the mainstream Canadian culture is the best thing for everyone.  The running time is 30 minutes.

Finally there's Eskimo Artist Kenojuak.  This one is probably the best of the bunch.  Kenojuak Ashevak was an Inuit woman who paved the way for Inuit art.  She created prints that revolved around the Inuit culture.  This film is short and sweet and for the most part focuses on how she makes her art.  However we still get Inuit people riding around in dog sleds and living in igloos.  Some troupes just refuse to go away.

The filmmaker John Feeney lived in Canada for about 10 years until he decided that some where a lot warmer was called for.  He ended up relocating to the Middle East for the next 40 years and wrote a cookbook.  Running time is 20 minutes.