Maliglutit (Searchers)

NATIVe - Indigenous Cinema 2017

It is winter in Nunavut in the early 1900s. An intimate, lively celebration in an igloo is disrupted by four misbehaving hunters. An elder anticipates a bad omen, so the group decides to ban these men, as their egoistic ways are a threat to the community’s stability. The men wander off enraged, feeling superior and fearless, forgetting their tradition. Far away from this turmoil, Kuanana leads a tranquil and content nomadic life with his family. He is a man of unwavering spirit, patient and focused. He sets out on a hunting trip, unknowing that savagery will befall his home, when the brutal renegades kidnap his wife and daughter. Kuanana goes out for revenge. With striking cinematography that comfortably sways between the vast open ice and the warm enclosed mood in the igloos, a hypnotic soundtrack, and genuine characters, eminent director Zacharias Kunuk delivers a masterful and artistic Western: an Inuit Western.

by Zacharias Kunuk (Written and Directed by)
with Benjamin Kunuk, Jocelyne Immaroitok, Karen Ivalu, Joseph Uttak, Joey Sarpinak, Jonah Qunaq Canada 2016 Inuktitut 94' Colour

With

Benjamin Kunuk (Kuanana)
Jocelyne Immaroitok (Aila)
Karen Ivalu (Tagaq)
Joseph Uttak (Siku)
Joey Sarpinak (Kupak)
Jonah Qunaq (Aulla)

Crew

Written and Directed by	Zacharias Kunuk
Cinematography	Jonathan Frantz
Editing	Norman Cohn, Zacharias Kunuk
Music	Tanya Tagaq, Chris Crilly
Sound	Tobias Haynes
Production Design	Susan Avingaq
Costumes	Susan Avingaq
Make-Up	Atuat Akkirtiq
Casting	Natar Ungalaaq, Lucy Tulugarjuq
Assistant Director	Natar Ungalaaq
Producers	Zacharias Kunuk, Jon Frantz, Cara Di Staulo

World Sales

Vtape

Produced by

Kingulliit

Zacharias Kunuk

The director is the co-founder of Isuma, Canada’s first independent Inuit production company. His debut feature film, Atanarjuat – The Fast Runner, won the 2001 Camera d’Or and was voted “the best Canadian film of all time” by a critic’s poll at the Toronto International Film Festival. To date, he has directed over 30 documentaries and feature films including the Oscar-nominated animation Angakusajaujuq – The Shaman’s Apprentice. His work has already screened several times at the Berlinale, with Maliglutit (Searchers) and Qapirangajuq: Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change presented in the NATIVe section devoted to Indigenous filmmaking from 2013 to 2019.

Filmography

1995 Nunavut (Our Land) 2001 Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) 2010 Qapirangajuq: Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change 2011 Sirmilik 2013 Inuit Cree Reconciliation 2016 Maliglutit (Searchers) 2019 One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk 2021 Angakusajaujuq (The Shaman’s Apprentice); short film 2025 Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025