The Journals of Knud Rassmusen, from the Nunavut-based company that won international acclaim with the 2001 hit  Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner), will open the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Co-directed by Zacharias Kunuk of Igloolik and Norman Cohn of Montreal, The Journals of Knud Rassmusen is the second feature film by Isuma Productions in Igloolik.

Leah Angutimarik plays Apak in The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, which will open the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
(Norman Cohn/The Journals of Knud Rasmussen)

The company's first effort, Atanarjuat, was the first feature film to be made in the Inuktitut language and the first to have an all-Inuit cast.

Atanarjuat, which told the story of two Inuit brothers who challenge the rule of an evil shaman, became an international commercial and critical success, winning five Genie Awards and landing Kunuk the Golden Camera award for a first-time director at Cannes.

The Journals of Knud Rassmusen recounts the story of the famous Danish explorer who travelled to Igloolik in the 1920s.

Kunuk said it portrays the ways in which life changed for Inuit in Igloolik when explorers arrived and Christianity was introduced.

"There's two sides to every story so we know Knud's side of the stories and his companions," Kunuk said.

Kunuk and Cohn studied Rasmussen's journals and looked at old photographs to see how Inuit people in Igloolik were dressed at the time.

"[In] these photographs we can see their face, their costumes, what they are wearing and what they are living in … and what the atmosphere was like at that time"

As a filmmaker, Kunuk said his biggest challenges were waiting for the right kind of weather and dealing with a large crew and budget.

The languages heard in the film are Inuktitut, English, Danish and Greenlandic.
 
According to Kunuk, distribution of The Journals of Knud Rassmusen will begin following the film's premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 7 to 16.

The Toronto festival is considered one of the most important in the world by the industry.