SPECIAL AWARDS
Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny The Canada Award sponsored CBC. Canada lives here The Canada Award honours excellence in mainstream television programming which best reflects the racial and cultural diversity of Canada. The general objectives of the Canada Award are: 1. To foster a greater awareness among Canadians of the multicultural and multiracial nature of the country. 2. To promote greater opportunity for ethnic and visible minority professionals within the broadcasting industry on both sides of the camera. Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny is a docu-comedy collaboration between filmmaker Mark Sandiford and Inuit writer and satirist Zebedee Nungak. Nungak is CEO and head researcher at the mythical Qallunaat Studies Institute (QSI). He says, "Qallunaat (Inuit word for white people) ought to be the object of some kind of study by other cultures. The more I thought about the way they have studied us over the years, it occurred to me: Why don't we study them?" Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny brings the documentary form to an unexpected place. Those who held the mirror up to Inuit culture finally have it turned back upon them. Filmmaker Mark Sandiford's extended time in the Arctic resulted in a fresh, funny and long overdue "study" of Qallunaat from the Inuit point of view. Not surprisingly, these "Qallunologists" found the ways of white culture a bit peculiar when reviewing its odd dating habits, lame attempts at Arctic exploration, overbearing bureaucrats, need for police, and curious obsession with owning property. The Canada Award is sponsored by
 Previous Canada Award Winners: Little Mosque on the Prairie, Wapos Bay - There's No "I" in Hockey, Two Worlds Colliding, Cosmic Current, Carry Me Home: The Story of Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Film Club, Made in China, Unwanted Soldiers, Loyalties, The Rez, The Road Taken, The Mind of a Child, Nuhoniyeh: Our Story, For Angela, Speak It! From The Heart of Black Nova Scotia, It’s About Time, Drums, Batiya Bak!, Inside Stories, Degrassi Junior High. |
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