Jerri Thrasher

b. 1989 Inuvik, NT

Jerri Thrasher was 12 years old when she decided she was going to become a filmmaker. Having grown up in Paulatuk, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT, a community with fewer than 350 residents and little access to creative outlets, Thrasher’s personal history drives her to create work that resonates with young Inuvialuit, work that was not accessible to her while growing up. The Inuvik-based filmmaker and producer is also keen on addressing the major challenges Inuit face in relation to colonialism and wants her self-determination to inspire youth to follow their own artistic path. “Through these stories, I really hope people can relate,” she explains. “I think it’s really important that they give some sort of hope for the future.”

The Last Walk (2017), her most recent project with the International Sámi Film Institute (ISFI), used a common script developed by five filmmakers from across the circumpolar world to tell a similar story, adapted into three separate short films and each told from a unique regional and cultural perspective. Thrasher’s segment borrows from Inuit mythology and follows two sisters whose relationship is fraught with tension. A mysterious being influences the pair’s path as they attempt to reconcile their different worlds and “to stay rooted to [their] traditional values and skills, but also live in this fast-paced changing modern world,” as Thrasher describes. The sober mood and atmosphere of the film, as well as the characteristics of the leads, echo the darker undertones of the plot. Thrasher is currently at work on a portion of the Arctic Chills series, another project with the ISFI, which will expand on her interest in contemporary interpretations of traditional stories: “For me, I really just wanted people to know the Arctic in its raw existence.” – Napatsi Folger