Zacharias Kunuk may be the foremost director in the Far North, but for his latest film, Exile, he went even further. The director/producer (The Journals of Knud Rasmussen) and DOP David Poisey traveled some 800 kilometers north from Kunuk’s homebase in Igloolik, Nunavut to the southern tip of Ellesmere Island and a barren spot of land called Griese Fjord.

It’s one of Canada’s northernmost permanent settlements, to which the government relocated Inuit families from northern Quebec in hopes of establishing sovereignty over the island. The $400,000 doc, a copro by Igloolik Isuma Productions and Kunuk Cohn Productions, documents that relocation and premieres at next week’s imagineNATIVE festival in Toronto.

‘I wanted to be in the high Arctic in the darkest months — to experience for myself what was going through their heads and what was happening to them.’ says Kunuk.

Kunuk sought to tell the Inuit’s stories of survival and broken promises.

‘I’ve seen two documentaries about these people, but it’s always from the perspective of the person who’s making it. I once saw a CBC documentary that made it look so good. But I heard stories about [the Inuit] and wanted to face them — Inuk to Inuk,’ he says.

‘I felt a southern crew might distract them and they could keep their secrets or hold back some information,’ he adds. ‘The Inuit crew was fabulous — they made the [subjects] feel at home. It’s a very touchy issue. Even my cameraman and my assistant were crying — everybody was in tears. It was that emotional.’

Kunuk and partner Norman Cohn will also screen Before Tomorrow — their copro with Arnait Video Collective, and an Inuit women’s story of family and survival — at the festival. The film by Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu won best Canadian first feature at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

‘I went to Puvirnituq [in northern Quebec] when they were doing their last bits of shooting.’ says Kunuk, who exec produced. ‘We’ve been making feature films and all this time it was us men doing it — now it’s the women’s turn, so we didn’t interfere too much.’

Danis Goulet, artistic director of imagineNATIVE, says the role of women ‘in the evolution of indigenous cinema is highlighted this year.’

Also playing is the world premiere of emerging director Janelle Wookey’s Mémère Métisse, documenting her grandmother’s acceptance of her Métis heritage, and Australian director Darlene Johnson’s River of No Return. ‘Johnson’s a rising star,’ adds Goulet.

Closing night will feature Older Than America by Georgina Lightning — a Canadian writer, actor and first-time director based in the U.S. who stars as a woman haunted by visions — and Palace, a seven-minute psychological thriller directed by Richard Story, featuring Lorne Cardinal (Corner Gas). Alanis Obomsawin’s landmark film Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance and Tracey Deer’s Club Native, which premiered at Hot Docs this year, will also screen.

A ‘meet the buyers’ panel for industry delegates will feature broadcasters from Spain, Taiwan, Australia, the U.S. and APTN.

‘We have the highest number of buyers in attendance from previous years,’ says organizer Kerry Potts. ‘The fest’s also attracting programmers from the Sundance Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Fest and Rotterdam.’ The festival runs Oct 15-19.