Nalujuk Night
2021 · 13m · Canada
Directed by Jennie Williams
Genres: documentary
Tones: melancholic, surreal, tense
In the Inuit community of Nain, Labrador, every January 6th masked figures called Nalujuit emerge from the sea ice in tattered fur clothing to chase children through the streets, rewarding the good and punishing the bad in a thrilling annual tradition captured in striking black-and-white cinematography.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Masked figures emerging from sea ice to chase Inuit children in black-and-white — this is the kind of documentary that doesn't need a hook because the world already gave it one. Observational and patient is exactly the right register.
Williams's NFB documentary of the Nain masquerade tradition — black-and-white observational immersion in a January 6th ritual where masked figures emerge from the sea ice — is precisely the sort of Inuit-authored cinema Atanarjuat made space for. Sixty-eight thousand views and a permanent NFB place; this is essential.
Shot entirely in black and white, immersive and observational, dropping you straight into the Nunatsiavut tradition without ethnographic narration — that's the right formal posture for material that walks the line between cultural celebration and genuine horror. 13 minutes, 68K views, NFB craft.
Reviews
The cinematography, the setting and the striking appearance of the Nalujiut combine to lend the film a truly beguiling quality.
Bone-chilling... offers a rare opportunity to experience a unique cultural tradition that exists only in northern Labrador.
Festivals
- FIN Atlantic International Film Festival 2021, Best Atlantic Short Documentary
- DOC NYC 2021
- Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC) 2021
- SXSW Film Festival 2022
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2022
- Canadian Screen Awards 2022, Best Short Documentary
- American Indian Film Festival 2021