AMKA
Sponsored By:
Ely Film Festival's 2024 Opening Night Program is sponsored by Ely Winter Festival. Pick up an Ely Winter Festival brochure to explore the full 10-day schedule of events across town.
We encourage people to arrive 20 minutes early; the EFF24 Opening Ceremony will kick off promptly at 7PM with speakers and songs / prayers from a traditional Anishinaabe drum team, followed by the film screenings and a Q&A with arctic explorer Lonnie Dupre, moderated by Ely Winter Festival.
Synopsis:
In 2001, Polar Explorer, Lonnie Dupre and his partner John Hoelscher circumnavigated Greenland. It took them five years to complete the project, traveling the northern half by dog-team and the southern half by kayak. A circumnavigation of Greenland had never been completed before and has not been repeated since.
In 2022, Lonnie returned to Greenland for the first time since his circumnavigation. His aim - to assemble a dog team, train them and travel with them, alongside Inuit hunters throughout northwest Greenland.
Amka, meaning “one with a friendly spirit” in Inuktun, is the story of this return to Greenland. This film looks into the relationship and connection between Polar Explorers, Inuit Hunters and the Greenlandic Sled Dog.
The focus of this story is not a final destination or successful completion of a specific objective on a map. Instead, it endeavours to illuminate how traveling in the Arctic by dog team is a deeply connecting force, no matter what culture or country one started from.
Amka shares the profound and lasting impact such experiences have on a person’s soul and celebrates the integrity of a culture amidst change.