Breaths
2016 · 4m · Canada
Directed by Nyla Innuksuk
Genres: biography, documentary, historical
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
Inuk singer Susan Aglukark weaves stories of artistry, family, and belonging while examining fifty years of colonial transition in Inuit life and its translation for a new generation of artists.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
On paper this reads like a by-the-numbers doc—Indigenous artist, historical grief, intergenerational wisdom—but Innuksuk refuses the sentimental trap, letting Aglukark's voice do the real work while the film stays weirdly sparse about it.
A masterclass in documentary restraint: four minutes that position Aglukark within fifty years of colonial rupture without explaining it, trusting the viewer to hold the weight of what's being translated between generations—formally this knows exactly what it inherits and what it breaks from.
The decision to let Aglukark's singing carry the historical argument rather than overlay it with archival footage or talking heads is the whole film—one choice that makes the personal testimony feel like testimony, not performance.