Nuliajuk
Mother of the Sea Beasts

Be it myth or ancient religion the age-old story of Nuliajuk is the key to a mystery; a haunting and gripping tale that opens a window into the soul of the Inuit. Nuliajuk: Mother of the Sea Beasts, an extraordinary new film from Triad Film Productions directed by John Houston and produced by Peter d'Entremont, depicts two interconnected journeys - one Inuit and a parallel non-native one. Both are in search of the elusive and mythical Nuliajuk, a female deity whose presence is seen in countless works of Inuit art. Rarely spoke of, and even then in awe or terror, her presence is nonetheless a central one in traditional Inuit spirituality.

Nuliajuk: Mother of the Sea Beast received a special preview screening on August 23, 2001 at the Canadian Museum of Civilization / Musee canadien des civilisations in Hull, Québec. The public premiere screening of the film will be in September in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Atlantic Film Festival followed by screening on Vision TV and the Aboriginal People's Television Network.

Award-winning director and writer John Houston continues the intimate exploration of Inuit culture which he began in his acclaimed film Songs in Stone, in an incisive and powerful new film that unfolds the relevance of an ancient narrative in contemporary society - both native and not. Carried throughout the Arctic in the hearts and imaginations of the ancestral Inuit people; driven underground and into hiding by the strictures of the church and its missionaries, Nuliajuk's truth and story now emerge. In an ancient culture her memory had faded but Houston seeks out those elders who remember the times when She was the source of all life and brave hunters trembled simply to say her name or wept as they drew her image.

Houston's own life-long connection with the Arctic and its peoples allows him to step into this society with its extraordinary worldview. The people he encounters on this voyage re-stage ancient dances not done in almost a century. Houston journeys across a haunting landscape to an island in the Arctic Ocean to find the stone foundations of Nuliajuk's apocryphal home.

Houston also collaborates with the superbly talented artists and performers of Greenland's Tukak Theatre/Selamute who bring to vivid and striking life some of the stories of Nuliajuk. We witness the fascination, amazement, and even laughter of the Inuit people themselves as they see these stories told once again. Says Houston reflecting on the film:

"As Peter d'Entremont and I set out to tell it I thought I understood the Nuliajuk story. In my mind's eye it was akin to Ming vase - a precious object from across the Bering Straits. At one time broken, it seemed its shards were scattered across the circumpolar world. With the help of Inuit elders, I would try to piece together the fragments I could uncover.

"However, during the second year of the project, it came to me in a dream that the figures in the story are alive and whatever I may have planned, they have their own intentions. So I now see the story as a living organism. What I set out to fix and to preserve is not broken. Like an ancient creature, which survived in a cold, quiet place, it transformed to encompass the events of the last thousand years - and it is changing still. The story of Nuliajuk: Mother of the Sea Beasts wants to be told."

Around the top of the world Inuit told Her story, one which was equally the story of their culture and of their lives. Nuliajuk: Mother of the Sea Beasts explores the wellsprings of a traditional Inuit sense of balance between human and nature; male and female. If we listen carefully, this mother of the sea beasts has an ancient message which reveals as much about our own culture, its values, and our chances of survival, as it does about the Inuit. Although her story may have for long been whispered, sometimes the most powerful things are spoken of in such ways.

Nuliajuk: Mother of the Sea Beasts is produced by Triad Film Productions with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund (License Fee Program), Telefilm Canada (Equity Investment Program), Canada Film or Video Production Tax Credit with the assistance of Canadian North Airlines and Adventure Canada. It is produced in association with Vision TV and the Aboriginal People's Television Network.

Support photography for media is available at www.triadfilms.ns.ca/Archive /nuliajuk.html.