Film Festival 09 - Before Tomorrow
Before Tomorrow
Canada 2008, 93m
Directors: Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline
Ivalu
Festivals: Toronto, Pusan 2008; Sundance 2009
Before Tomorrow is the first feature from the Arnait Video
Collective, a group dedicated to honouring 'the unique knowledge
and perspectives of Inuit women'. Covering the final months in the
life of the canny old Ningiuq (co-director Madeline Piujuq Ivalu)
as she nurses her ailing friend and calmly prepares her 10-year-old
grandson to face an arduous winter and the responsibilities of
manhood, it's a devastatingly moving reclamation of imperiled
culture. Superbly shot in Canada's icy North, the action unfolds
ca. 1840 as the Inuits hear the first reports of white foreigners.
- BG. "A profound, elemental and hauntingly beautiful period drama
that makes an intimate story of endurance into a metaphor for an
entire culture... the deceptively simple script brilliantly
reflects the cultural and spiritual values of the Inuits. In
particular, the traditional stories Ningiuq tells her grandson take
on a heart-rending resonance." - Alissa Simon, Variety
In Inuktitut with English subtitles
www.beforetomorrow.ca
