Canada – Jennie Williams’ bone-chilling National Film Board of Canada short doc Nalujuk Night makes its US premiere at DOC NYC. Film offers a rare opportunity to experience a unique cultural tradition that exists only in northern Labrador.

Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Jennie Williams’ award-winning National Film Board of Canada (NFB) short, Nalujuk Night, will have its US premiere at DOC NYC from November 10-18, 2021.

Presented as part of the festival’s Shorts: She Stories program, Nalujuk Night is a must-see film by a renowned Inuk multidisciplinary artist, bringing Labrador Inuit Traditions and innovative visual storytelling to New York audiences. The film offers a bold new look at Inuit Culture and History, as Williams plunges viewers directly into the action in this frightening black-and-white short about a winter night like no other.

The 13-minute film provides a unique perspective on an Inuit tradition that only occurs once every year in Nunatsiavut, an Inuit territory in northern Labrador.

For 12 years, Williams photographed and researched Nalujuk Night in Nain, the most northern and largest community in Nunatsiavut, resulting in an acclaimed work that gives audiences an up-close look at an exhilarating, sometimes terrifying, tradition.

Synopsis

Every January 6, from the dark of the Nunatsiavut night, the Nalujuit appear on the sea ice. They walk on two legs, yet their faces are animalistic, skeletal and otherworldly. Snow crunches underfoot as they approach their destination: the Inuit community of Nain. Despite the frights, Nalujuk Night is a beloved annual event, showing that sometimes it can be fun to be scared. Rarely witnessed outside of Nunatsiavut, the event is an exciting chance for Inuit, young and old, to prove their courage and come together as a community to celebrate culture and tradition.

Festivals and awards

Best Atlantic Short Documentary: FIN Atlantic International Film Festival
World premiere – FIN Atlantic International Film Festival
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma
imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
John’s International Women’s Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
American Indian Film Festival

About Jennie Williams

Jennie Williams is an Inuk visual artist and a throat singer from Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Labrador. Now based in St. John’s, she is a professional photographer who creates powerful images that convey the cultural landscape and lived experience of Inuit. Her stirring photography has received national acclaim, and has been included in exhibitions and publications such as the travelling exhibition SakKijâjuk, Future Possible at The Rooms Provincial Gallery and the Bonavista Biennale, Inuit Art Quarterly, and Canadian Art. Her work has been recognized through honours such as the Elbow Room Residency and the Hnatyshyn Foundation’s REVEAL Indigenous Art Award.

Production credits

Nalujuk Night is produced through the NFB’s Labrador Documentary Project initiative, which supports Indigenous storytelling by working with first-time Labrador Inuit filmmakers to create and distribute Inuit stories from Inuit perspectives. The producers are Latonia Hartery, Rohan Fernando, and Kat Baulu, with Annette Clarke as executive producer.

– 30 –

Stay Connected

Online Screening Room: NFB.ca

NFB Facebook | NFB Twitter | NFB Instagram | NFB Blog | NFB YouTube | NFB Vimeo

Curator’s perspective | Director’s notes

About the NFB

Lily Robert

Director, Communications and Public Affairs, NFB

C.: 514-296-8261

l.robert@nfb.ca

Actor TERRENCE CLOWE Steps Back in Time for Gloria Steinhem Biopic ‘THE GLORIAS’

Actor Terrence Clowe steps back in time to highlight the early years of feminist icon Gloria Steinhem in the new biopic, THE GLORIAS, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Directed by Julie Taymor, THE GLORIAS chronicles Steinem’s itinerant childhood’s influence on her life as a writer, activist and organizer for women’s rights worldwide. Clowe emerges as a Barber and supportive father of a young black girl befriended by Steinem during her childhood years living in the south.

The film stars Academy Award winners Julianne Moore and Alicia Vikander as Gloria at different stages of her life, as well as Bette Midler, Timothy Hutton, Lorraine Toussaint and Janelle Monáe.

Clowe was excited to join the talented cast and for the opportunity to portray a positive role model that helped shape the young Steinem. Clowe adds, “I have been a fan of Julie Taymor’s work for some time. When I received the opportunity, I was floored! The joy and electricity you see in the scene were genuine and so appropriately set in the world of an African American barbershop, a place of community, family and culture. The relationship with my daughter in the film is apparent and I think adds dimension to the many ideals Ms. Steinem would later go on to advocate for. I have so much gratitude to be a part of the film that brilliantly honors Gloria Steinem whom I view as an extraordinary human being.”

A Clinton, Maryland native, Clowe has built a solid resume and reputation on both screen and stage. Audiences will recognize him from his previous television appearances on Boardwalk Empire, The Knick, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, I Am Homicide, and Z the Beginning of Everything; as well as the feature films The Eyes with Nick Turturro and Vincent Pastore, and An Act of Terror with Olivia Washington and Tonya Pinkins. He has worked with some of the biggest directors in the business, including Rob Marshall, Chris Rock, Steven Soderbergh, Martin Scorsese, Ann Reinking and Walter Bobbie.

A powerhouse on stage, Clowe has performed in the UK, Germany, Amsterdam, Switzerland, Japan and the US. He rose amongst the ranks performing in several high-level productions, including the European tour of West Side Story, Buddy Holly (Germany), and the original Dutch production of Miss Saigon. After returning to New York, Clowe landed a summer tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in the featured role of Judah alongside Little Mermaid star Jodi Benson and the Osmond’s, before embarking on a two-year stint in the Tony Award-winning production Chicago. He followed that up with the iconic role of “Old Bojangles” in the European production of FOSSE. A favorite on the regional theater scene, the pinnacle was appearing with the legendary Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, followed by an invitation to perform in her benefit concert in NYC at Towne Hall.

Clowe is a graduate of the famed New York University Tisch School of the Arts and has studied at The Lee Strasberg Institute. Currently, Clowe studies with acting coach Anthony Abeson.

For more about TERRENCE CLOWE visit: TerrenceClowe.com