Natar Ungalaaq (born 1959) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, filmmaker and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

whose work is in many major collections of Inuit art. Before playing the lead roles in '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner'' (2001) and '' The Necessities of Life (Ce qu'il faut pour vivre)'' (2008), Ungalaaq played major roles in other Canadian and American films, including '' Kabloonak'' (1995), ''Glory & Honor'' (1998) and ''Frostfire'' (1994). He is also a producer and director of the

Inuit Broadcasting Corporation The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) ( iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᑕᑯᓐᓇᕋᑦᓴᓕᕆᔨᑦ) is a television production company based in Nunavut with programming targeted at the Inuit population of Nunavut. Almost all of its programs are broad ...

. Ungalaaq was the carving buddy of director

Zacharias Kunuk Zacharias Kunuk ( iu, ᓴᖅᑲᓕᐊᓯ ᑯᓄᒃ, born November 27, 1957) is a Canadian Inuk producer and director most notable for his film '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner'', the first Canadian dramatic feature film produced entirely in Inu ...

. With funds raised by selling their handmade work, they bought their first camera gear in 1981, and started a production company in an Inuit community that didn't even have a TV. Natar is also a renowned carver. He began when he was 9 or 10 years old, using his grandfather's tools. His carving in white soapstone, " Sedna with a Hairbrush 1985", is featured in the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

's collection. In 2016, he made his debut as a director, codirecting the film '' Searchers'' with Kunuk."Nunavut directors head for the red carpet at TIFF"
''

Nunatsiaq News ''Nunatsiaq News'' ( iu, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕐᒥ ᐱᕙᓪᓕᐊᔪᑦ, italic=no) is a Canadian weekly newspaper in operation since 1973 based in Iqaluit, serving Nunavut and Nunavik, in Kativik, Nord-du-Québec. The paper is published every Fri ...

'', August 15, 2016.

Filmography

Awards

Ungalaaq was awarded the Best Actor award at the American Indian Movie Awards in 2002 for ''Atanarjuat''. He won the Genie Award for Best Actor at the

29th Genie Awards The 29th Genie Awards were held on April 4, 2009, to honour Canadian films released in 2008. The ceremony was held at the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, and was broadcast on Global and IFC. The ceremony was hosted by Dave Foley. ...

for his role in ''Ce qu'il faut pour vivre''. He also won the

Jutra Award The Prix Iris is a Canadian film award, presented annually by Québec Cinéma, which recognizes talent and achievement in the mainly francophone feature film industry in Quebec.Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 1989 ...

for the same performance. In September 2009, Ungalaaq was presented with an award of distinction by the Nunavut Film Development Corporation. This award recognized Natar's body of work and his contribution to Nunavut's film community. In 2016, Ungalaaq won Best Indigenous Language Production (2016) for " Maliglutit (Searchers)" at the

ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in Toronto in the month of October. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Abori ...

Filmography

Awards

References

External links