Arctic Defenders

January 14, 2024 (Sunday) / 2:00 pm

Rainey Auditorium, Penn Museum, 3260 South Street

Arctic Defenders

Dir. John Walker, 2013, 90 min.

Arctic Defenders tells the story of the creation of the Inuit-governed territory Nunavut and the young, radical Inuit determined to redraw political boundaries and reclaim their land. Inuk activist Oo Apik and filmmaker John Walker investigate the Canadian government’s attempts to assert its sovereignty in the High Arctic, while finding hope and inspiration in the stories from the Defenders who established the largest territorial re-visioning in western civilization.


Followed by a conversation with filmmaker John Walker and activists Oo Aqpik, John Amagoalik, Tagak Curley, and Aaju Peter.


Presented by Penn Museum and cosponsored by Penn’s Center for Experimental Ethnography, Cinema & Media Studies Department, Program in the Environmental Humanities, and Wolf Humanities Center.