Natsik Hunting

Ningiuksiak, an Inuk who lives in the settlement of Cape Dorset, is on a hunt with his family. On his way back to Cape Dorset, Ningiuksiak's snowmobile breaks down. Since he does not have the money to fix it he decides to leave his family and fly to the town of Frobisher Bay to make some money. Ningiuksiak's cousin in Frobisher Bay, Ashoona, a somewhat urbanized Inuk who makes his living as a construction worker or as a cab driver, has drifted away from hunting and the traditional way of life of the remote settlements. Ashoona takes Ningiuksiak in hand and helps him to get a job driving for the Nanook Taxi Company. Increasingly unhappy and bewildered, Ningiuksiak takes to spending his money on liquor and his time in seedy nightclubs. One night, half-heartedly trying to show that he is having a good time, he looks up and sees his wife. She has come to take him home to Cape Dorset.

This film joins a hunting-party of inhabitants of the Frobisher Bay Correctional Centre. The stalking, killing and skinning of seal and caribou are featured prominently, with explanations as to the importance of these animals to the Inuit way of life.

Mosha Michael's third film follows six Inuit hunters from Frobisher Bay, N.W.T. setting out on a spring whale hunt. Once again, Michael documents the process on Super 8 film, from pushing the canoes out over the thin spring ice to open water, to the killing and cleaning of the whale and storing the meat. An original score features music and songs in Inuktitut by the filmmaker himself.