Natar Ungalaaq

Natar Ungalaaq is a talented filmmaker actor and sculptor from Igloolik NU Ungalaaq began his artistic practice carving when he was a child using his grandparents tools eventually selling his works to buy camera gear along with Zacharias Kunuk to start an Igloolik based production company known as Isuma Productions Ungalaaq has acted and appeared in many films and television shows most notably starring as the lead Atanarjuat in Atanarjuat The Fast Runner 2001 which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival He made his directorial debut in 2016 with the film Searchers 2016 He is also a talented carver Ungalaaqs carvings are often made from stone and depict traditional Inuit imagery and practices Ungalaaq has been known to also incorporate animal hair into some of his carvings such as Sedna with Hairbrush 1985 Ungalaaq represents the goddess Sedna in white soapstone reclining on a rock with her fish like tail wrapping around the bottom of the stone Sednas hair is made from fur and sticks out around her head creating halo of red In her right hand she holds a bone hairbrush Ungalaaqs sculptures are boldly carved with minimal amounts of negative space and with figures always seemingly caught midaction Ungalaaq has received many awards for his acting including Best Actor from the American Indian Movie Awards in 2002 Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role from the Genie Awards in 2009 and his film The Necessities of Life or Inuujjutiksaq was shortlisted for the 2009 Oscars under the Best Foreign Language Film category Ungalaaq has acted produced directed and run cameras in countless Isuma film work Before playing the lead role in the genrecreating Cannes Camera Dor awardwinning Atanarjuat The Fast Runner 2001 Natar played major roles in other Canadian and American films including Kabloonak 1994 Glory Honor 1998 Frostfire 1994 Trial at Fortitude Bay 1994 Sleep Murder 2004 The Journals of Knud Rasmussen 2006 The Necessities of Life 2008 and Maïna 2013 He has attended multiple film festivals as an actor and director including the Cannes Film Festival Ungalaaqs carvings have been exhibited across Canada and are housed in major institutions including the National Gallery of Canada Ottawa ON He has been written about in multiple publications including many times in Inuit Art Quarterly and has his piece Sedna with Hairbrush on the cover of the Fall 1993 issue Most recently Isuma TV has been chosen as an artist collective to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale Art Festival in 2018