Banff, AB - Joanne Morrow, vice-president, The Banff Centre, has announced that Zacharias Kunuk is the recipient of the 2001 Banff Centre National Arts Award. "Zacharias Kunuk, through the beauty of Atanarjuat, has brought back lost traditions, and in doing so, has put Aboriginal filmmaking on the map," says Morrow.

From Igloolik, Nunuvut, Zacharias Kunuk comments, "It is a great honour to be awarded the 2001 National Arts Award for Aboriginal Film and Video. It is truly wonderful not only to be able to tell our own stories, but to know that they resonate with all kinds of people across the country and around the world."

The Banff Centre National Arts Award alternates among the Aboriginal, literary, media/visual, music, and performing arts. As the 2001 award winner, Mr. Kunuk receives the Donald Cameron Bronze Medal, a $10,000 cash award, and a two-week residency at The Banff Centre. Past filmmakers to receive The Banff Centre National Arts Award include, Rhombus Media Inc. (1999), and Denys Arcand (1991).

The Banff Centre will also present Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) during the 2002 Banff Arts Festival. Atanarjuat will be screened in the 959-seat Eric Harvie Theatre on Sunday, July 28.

A sculptor-turned-moviemaker, Zacharias Kunuk’s first feature film, Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) swept five categories at the Genie Awards, including best film. A tale of Shakespearean proportions, Atanarjuat tells the ancient legend of a quarrel between two families. It has received international attention since its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in France last year. At Cannes, it won the Caméra d’or, an award for directors of debut feature films, and at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, the movie was voted the Best Canadian Film. The film will be released across Canada by Odeon Films on April 12. For further information on the film, visit www.atanarjuat.com.

Kunuk was born in a sod house on the arctic tundra in 1957. Already an established carver in 1981, Kunuk sold three sculptures in Montreal and brought home the Arctic’s first video camera to a community that did not yet have television. Kunuk’s credits include the short films Qaggiq (Gathering Place, 1989), Saputi (Fish Traps, 1993) and the 13-part television series Nunavut (Our Land, 1995); and the documentaries Nipi (Voice, 1999) and Nanugiurutiga (My First Polar Bear, 2001) shown in festivals and museums in sixteen countries with personal presentations at the National Gallery of Canada and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

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