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Nunavut Animation Lab: The Bear Facts

In this animated short, a self-important colonial explorer emerges from a sailing ship and plants a flag on the Arctic ice, as a bemused Inuit hunter looks on. Then the explorer plants another, and another, and another, while the hunter, clearly not impressed that his land has been “discovered,” quietly goes about his business. In this charming and humorous re-imagining of first contact between Inuit and European, Jonathan Wright brings us the story of a savvy hunter and the ill-equipped explorer he outwits.
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In this animated short, a self-important colonial explorer emerges from a sailing ship and plants a flag on the Arctic ice, as a bemused Inuit hunter looks on. Then the explorer plants another, and another, and another, while the hunter, clearly not impressed that his land has been “discovered,” quietly goes about his business.

In this charming and humorous re-imagining of first contact between Inuit and European, Jonathan Wright brings us the story of a savvy hunter and the ill-equipped explorer he outwits.

Film and Video Arts Geography and Geology Indigenous Peoples in Canada (Inuit) All subjects
  • director
    Jonathan Wright
  • animator
    Jonathan Wright
  • writer
    Jonathan Wright
  • original music
    Daniel Gies
  • music performer
    Daniel Gies
  • sound design
    Daniel Gies
  • sound edit
    Daniel Gies
  • sound mix
    Serge Boivin
  • online editor
    Denis Pilon
  • digital imaging consultation
    Susan Gourley
  • production coordinator
    Rolande Petit
    Melanie Legault
  • program administrator
    Cyndi Forcand
  • marketing manager
    Julie Armstrong-Boileau
  • technical coordinator
    Pitseolak Kilabuk
  • production supervisor
    Scott Collins
  • producer
    Debbie Brisebois
    Derek Mazur
  • associate producer
    Stephanie Scott
  • executive producer
    Derek Mazur
    Debbie Brisebois

Education

Ages 6 to 9

Study Guides

Guide 1 Guide 2

Notes

Students should consider the historical significance of early contact. What would they do if someone knocked on their door and announced that they were moving into their house? Why is the European man depicted like a house when he is planting flags? Why does the Inuit man use a bear to scare the European? Who are the students rooting for and why? What are cultural differences and why should we respect them?

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Nunavut Animation Lab: The Bear Facts
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