COLD PLACE: An Inuit settlement in the arctic reaches of Canada
Considered the first feature-length documentary, Nanook of the North captures the day-to-day lives of an Inuit family — centered on the father, Allakariallak — living much as their ancestors did in the wild expanse of the Canadian arctic. The film was funded, as were many documentaries of that time, by a corporation, in this case a French fur company that operated trading posts in this remote region. Director Robert Flaherty would later face criticism for staging some scenes (and accusations of having relationships with both of Allakariallak’s wives), but the film still has a lyrical and innocent beauty. In 1989, Nanook was one of the first 25 films named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
WHERE THESE SCENES WERE SHOT: Outside of Inukjuak, a settlement on the Hudson Bay in northern Quebec
OTHER “COLD” DOCUMENTARIES: March of the Penguins and Encounters at the Ends of the World
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVbQVWkdcFk]