Canada/Denmark 2006, Inuktitut with English subtitles, 35mm, 112 min
Director: Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn
Screenplay : Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn
Cinematography: Norman Cohn
Cast: Paka Innuksuk, Leah Angutimarik, Neeve Irngaut-Uttak, Natar Ungalaaq, Samuellie Amaaq
Print Source: Lucius Barre
Zacharias Kunuk's first feature length film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) was one of the delights of the 2005 DIFF. With its epic scope and unique interpretation of ancient myths, it upended preconceptions about cinema.
His new film (co-directed with long-time artistic collaborator Norman Cohn) is an account of the first contact between European explorers and the Inuit people and looks at how the Inuits respond to a world that is rapidly changing. Poetic and elliptical, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen is a challenging film, but its deeply beautiful collage of images and dialogue is well worth the perseverance.
Based on the journals of its title, the film takes place in the Canadian arctic in 1912 and focuses on the relationship between Avva, an aging shaman, and his favourite daughter Apak. Both of their lives have been marked by tragedy and Apak, who is also a shaman, spends much of her time in the spirit world visiting her first husband.
Kunuk has created a stirring family drama as well as a powerful account of two cultures colliding. The result is as heart-breaking as it is beautiful.
The Cape Winelands will again at the 2012 edition of this festival present a series of Masterclasses and workshops. These events are sponsored by the City of Cape Town and Wesgro.
Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes festival, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s new film has the magic of a fairy tale and the simplicity of a folk tale. Wonderfully immersive, slow and dreamy, 
