Have high-speed internet? Switch to High-Speed

Videos load too SLOW? Switch to Low-Speed

Restless River

Available on:

VIMEO ON DEMAND (English version)

VIMEO ON DEMAND (version française)

May 14 on Crave

+See more

Languages:
Inuktitut
English
French 

+See more
Stream Now Public Performance

Kuujjuaq, Nunavik 1940s. Surprised at the loss of her innocence, the young Inuk Elsa draws courage from her rugged land to become a woman as strong and independent as the restless river that cuts across it. She becomes the very young mother of a child whose remarkable life breaks with the millennial traditions of her ancestors. Navigating the social norms of the colonizers and the reality of her own family situation, the dreariness of a relationship that is not right for her and the rebellion of her teenage son, Elsa’s path follows the winding course of the indomitable river that accompanies her every turn in life.  

Kuujjuaq, Nunavik dans les années 1940. Surprise par la perte de son innocence, la jeune Inuk Elsa tire son courage de sa terre ardue pour devenir une femme aussi forte et indépendante que la rivière qui traverse le territoire. Elle devient la toute jeune maman d’un enfant dont la vie remarquable est en rupture avec les traditions millénaires de ses ancêtres. Évoluant entre les normes établies par les colonisateurs, la réalité vivante de sa propre famille, la qualité d’une relation qui n’est pas correcte pour elle et la révolte de son fils adolescent, le destin d’Elsa suit le cours venteux de la rivière indomptable qui accompagne chaque étape de sa vie.

A production of Les Productions MH Cousineau and Arnait Video Productions.
Produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, SODEC, Nunavut Film Development Corporation, The Harold Greenberg Fund, Tax Credit Quebec and Tax Credit Canada.

Running time: 99 minutes.
 

Starring:
Malaya QAUNIRQ CHAPMAN as Elsa
Etua SNOWBALL Isaki
with
Taqraliq PARTRIDGE as Winnie
Matthew YORK Jimmy (young)
Nick SERINO Jimmy (teenager)
Magalie LÉPINE-BLONDEAU Ms. Beaulieu
Patrick HIVON Mr. Beaulieu


Director Marie-Hélène COUSINEAU
in collaboration with Madeline IVALU
Screenplay Marie-Hélène COUSINEAU
in collaboration with Madeline IVALU
Producer Marie-Hélène COUSINEAU
Co-Producers Madeline IVALU; Lucy TULUGARJUK
Director of Photography Edith LABBÉ
Editor Michel GROU
Original Music Vanessa MARCOUX

 

Press Kit and Stills

Behind the Scenes

Press and Articles

Northern Film Tour

See more films

    • ᑕᐅᑐᒃᑕᕗᒃ Tautuktavuk (What We See)

      uploaded by: John Hodgins

      Tautuktavuk (2023) - a new feature film from co-directors Lucy Tulugarjuk and Carol Kunnuk.

      Blurring the line between narrative and non-fiction, Uyarak and her eldest sister Saqpinak, embark on a difficult healing journey after a traumatic event that reminds them of the importance of community, culture, and family.

      … Read more

      uploaded date: 19-10-2023

    • Restless River

      uploaded by: IsumaTV

      Kuujjuaq, Nunavik 1940s. Surprised at the loss of her innocence, the young Inuk Elsa draws courage from her rugged land to become a woman as strong and independent as the restless river that cuts across it. She becomes the very young mother of a child whose remarkable life breaks with the millennial traditions of her ancestors.… Read more

      uploaded date: 29-04-2020

    • One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk

      uploaded by: Gabriela Gamez

      In April 1961, John Kennedy is America’s new President, the Cold War heats up in Berlin and nuclear bombers are deployed from bases in arctic Canada. In Kapuivik, north Baffin Island, Noah Piugattuk’s nomadic Inuit band live and hunt by dog team as his ancestors did when he was born in 1900.… Read more

      uploaded date: 14-03-2019

    • Tia and Piujuq

      uploaded by: clairelittoncohn

      Summer moves slowly for Tia, a 10-year-old Syrian girl who has recently moved to Montreal with her parents, as she struggles to make new friends. When she finds a magic portal that transports her to the arctic tundra, she befriends Piujuq, an Inuk girl of her age, and they immerse themselves in a world of Inuit myth and magic.

      … Read more

      uploaded date: 13-03-2019

    • Uvanga

      uploaded by: clairelittoncohn

      Anna is nervous when she and her 14 year old son, Tomas, arrive in the small, close-knit community of Igloolik in the Canadian Arctic. Anna had a short-lived affair with Tomas’s Inuk father when she worked in Igloolik, but Tomas was born and raised in his mother’s native city of Montreal and never knew much about his origins.… Read more

      uploaded date: 11-03-2019

    • My Father’s Land (Ataatama Nunanga)

      uploaded by: clairelittoncohn

      Mixing scenes from past and present, My Father's Land looks at the meanings between Inuit history and modern mining in North Baffin Island; how new media is used to inform and consult Inuit leading up to July 2012 Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) Final Public Hearings on Baffinland's $6 billion Mary River proposal to build the world's largest iron mine on Inuit land between Igloolik and Pond … Read more

      uploaded date: 13-03-2019

    • Maliglutit (Searchers)

      uploaded by: clairelittoncohn

      Nunavut, circa 1913. Kuanana returns from a caribou hunt to discover his wife and daughter kidnapped, and the rest of his family slaughtered. His father's spirit helper, the loon Kallulik, sets him on course to overturn fate and reunite his family.

      … Read more

      uploaded date: 13-03-2019