July 29th, 2022 Navalik Tologanak boarded a plane in Yellowknife on her way to Iqaluit for a private meeting of Inuit residential school survivors with Pope Francis. At the meeting, four Inuit survivors were chosen to recount their horrific experiences and to ask for justice. On the plane home, the Pope admitted that what happened to indigenous children was genocide. By Indigenous People’s Day in June, 2023 it will be nearly a year since the apology on Canadian soil. Was the apology a starting point for reconciliation and healing? Would the demands of the Inuit, presented to Pope Francis be met? Will their silent cries finally be heard?
Tolok Productions presents:
Silent Cries / Kiayunik tuhanak
Producer / Director Navalik Tologanak
Producer / Editor Kelly Saxberg
“It happened every year during long weekends in September. That’s when all the planes, little planes start flying around Nunavut and North-Western Territory collecting kids at camps.
As soon as you hear that plane coming around you know what was gonna happen, some of them hide, run away… But the parents were always threatened if their kids didn’t get on that plane. All you could hear was mothers, grandmothers crying.Navalik Tologanak journalist and emerging filmmaker shares her experience as a residential school survivor.
SILENT CRIES (KIAYUNIK TUHANAK), documents the work of Navalik and her colleagues as members of the NTRC’s sharing circle. As a respected Elder, Navalik shares her experience and that of the other survivors who attended the private meeting with Pope Francis in 2022. She weaves her personal story into the narrative to bring an intimate perspective to a historical event and what followed.
Awards & Nominations:
- Winner: Best Women Empowerment Film 2024 – Calgary Indie Film Awards
- Best Biographical Film 2024 – Toronto International Women Film Festival
- Semi-Finalist: Best Documentary Short – Florence Indie Film Festival 2024
- Nominee: Best Documentary (POV) – Yorkton Film Festival
- Best Women Empowerment Film 2024 – Calgary Indie Film Awards
- Seasonal competition Toronto Women’s Film Festival
- In Competition section of the 2024 Regina International Film Festival and Awards
- Official selections Skoden Film festival, Latino & Native American Film Festival,
- Semi-finalist The Ottawa Canadian Film Festival
Festivals:
- Vox Popular Media Arts Festival 2024 – Thunder Bay, ON
- The Women’s Film Festival 2024 – Philadelphia, PA, USA
- RIFFA – Regina International Film Festival & Awards 2024 – Regina, SK
- Women Over 50 Film Festival 2024 – London, UK
- Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival 2024 – Ottawa, ON
- OCan – Ottawa Canadian Film Festival 2024 – Ottawa, ON
- Latino & Native American Film Festival 2024 – New Haven, CT, USA
- Skoden Indigenous Film Festival 2024 – Vancouver, BC
- Toronto Women Film Festival 2024 – Toronto, ON
- Florence Indie Film Festival 2024 – Venice, IT
- Yorkton Film Festival 2024 – Yorkton, SK
