Zacharias Kunuk oc
I have a lot of people who have inspired my work, but I would say that Zacharias Kunuk has really been the central one. I was fifteen and in junior high school when Zach, Paul Apak Angilirq, Paulossie Qulitalik and Norman Cohn started Igloolik Isuma Productions Inc. Before that he worked for the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) with Apak who did a short film on Inuit teenagers that was called Friday with teenagers (1989). That was my first experience in front of the camera; I was so nervous. Natar Ungalaaq was there too because he was working for IBC too. I had no idea that, somewhere in the future, I would be working with these three guys. When I was asked by Zach about casting for Atanarjuat (2001), I had just started a new job two weeks before. Thankfully, I was told that I could definitely keep my job after filming, so I went for casting. We spent one week practicing and were given the choice of which character we would like to play. I picked the challenging one: Puja. As a director, Zach is pretty calm, even when it’s really busy and stressful. He knows what he wants and what the direction will be, yet he’s also open to suggestions, including those from the actors. I like that he is open to his crew. He never says when he’s tired because he’s already moving on to the next film. He’s always on the go. –