Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk’s (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) latest feature Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) (pictured) will have its world premiere at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) as part of the Generation 14plus programme.

The Inuktitut-language historical drama is directed, co-written and executive produced by Kunuk and is set in 1,000 BCE Igloolik, Nunavut, where tragedy compels two young lovers to enlist the help of a shaman to be together.

Jonathan Frantz, Samuel Cohn-Cousineau and Carol Kunnuk are producers on the project. Cohn-Cousineau also co-wrote the script with Kunuk. Inuk filmmaker Susan Avingaq serves as an executive producer. Uiksaringitara is produced by Igloolik-based Kingulliit Productions.

The film stars Mark Taqqaugaq (One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk), Theresia Kappianaq, Hayden Angutimarik, Leah Panimera, Mark Taqqaugaq (Tautuktavuk) and Emma Quassa.

Financing for the film was provided by the Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, the Indigenous Screen Office, the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Film Development Corporation, as well as federal tax credits and broadcaster support from Uvagut TV.

Also making its world premiere in Berlin is Kinga Michalska’s feature Bedrock, as part of the Panorama programme. The film, written and directed by Montreal-based Michalska, is produced by Danae Elon, Paul Cadieux and Ashley Duong. The documentary is a psychological portrait of Poland from the perspective of Polish people living on Holocaust sites today.

Bedrock was funded with the support of Telefilm, Société de Développement des Entreprises Culturelles, the Catapult Film Fund, Quebec Council of Arts and Letters, Claims Conference Film Grant and the Peter S. Reeds Foundation. Les Films du 3 Mars is the Canadian distributor while Filmoption International is the sales agent.

A number of Canadian short films will also world premiere at Berlinale. They include Lesley Loksi Chan’s Lloyd Wong, Unfinished, which will screen as part of the Berlinale Shorts programme. The short film compiles and edits the footage created by Chinese-Canadian artist Lloyd Wong, who wanted to create a video work about his life with HIV.

Other shorts having their world premiere at the festival include Caroline Monnet’s Pidikwe (Rumble) in Forum Expanded. The short film features Indigenous women of various generations combining traditional and contemporary dance.

Lisa Jackson’s Wilfred Buck’s Star Stories (Door Number 3 Productions) is also as part of Forum Expanded. The extended reality experience is intended for domes and planetariums. The film is guided by the wisdom of Ininew astronomer Wilfred Buck and shares four Cree stories that explore the cosmos.

Connor Jessup’s short film Julian and the Wind will make its international premiere in the Generation 14plus programme. The film, which initially premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, follows two boys at a boarding school who begin to develop a strange connection when one of them starts sleepwalking.

Berlinale runs from Feb. 13 to 23.

Photo by Kingulliit Productions