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Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny

2006 52 min
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An ethnographic comedy

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Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny

Details

This documentary pokes fun at the ways in which Inuit people have been treated as “exotic” documentary subjects by turning the lens onto the strange behaviours of Qallunaat (the Inuit word for white people). The term refers less to skin colour than to a certain state of mind: Qallunaat greet each other with inane salutations, repress natural bodily functions, complain about being cold, and want to dominate the world. Their odd dating habits, unsuccessful attempts at Arctic exploration, overbearing bureaucrats and police, and obsession with owning property are curious indeed.

A collaboration between filmmaker Mark Sandiford and Inuit writer and satirist Zebedee Nungak, Qallunaat! brings the documentary form to an unexpected place in which oppression, history, and comedy collide.
  • writer
    Mark Sandiford
  • director
    Mark Sandiford
  • collaborating director
    Zebedee Nungak
  • producer
    Mark Sandiford
    Kent Martin
  • director of photography
    Gary Elmer
  • assistant camera
    Henry Naulaq
  • production sound
    David Poisey
  • editor
    Christopher Cooper
  • content consultant
    Zebedee Nungak
  • additional content consultant
    Lena Ellsworth
  • segment director
    Lena Ellsworth
  • story consultant
    John Kastner
  • line production
    Sean Yeomans
  • production coordinator
    Nadia Bouffard
  • production assistant
    Sula Enuaraq
  • location graphics
    Melanie Houde
    Tony Romito
  • original music composer
    Asif Illyas
  • researcher
    Elizabeth Klinck
  • post-production
    Power Post
  • post supervisor
    Sara Thomas
  • online editor
    Doug Woods
  • colourist
    Doug Woods
  • assistant on-line editor
    Chris MacIntosh
  • re-recording mixer
    Brian Power
  • sound effects designer
    Eva Madden
  • foley artist
    Ken MacCaull
  • foley recordist
    Dan Wagner
  • dialogue editor
    Graham Colwell
  • centre administrator
    John William Lutz
  • production supervisor
    Patricia Coughran
  • marketing manager
    Amy Stewart Gallant
  • production executive
    Robin Johnston
  • vice president of documentaries
    Bob Culbert
  • interviews
    John Amagoalik
    Lori Idlout
    Alexina Kublu
    Zebedee Nungak
    Jeff Tabvahtah

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Education

Ages 15 to 17
Study Guide
School subjects
Discuss the adage, “turnabout is fair play.” How does this statement reflect the premise of the film? What things about the white man’s culture do the Inuit find peculiar? What are the inherent dangers of forcing one’s culture and traditions on another? Discuss the educational value of this film.
Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny
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