World Premiere of: Inuit Odyssey (43 mins.)
7:00-8:30 p.m., Metro Cinema (Citadel Theatre) $10 general admission, $8 students
Shot in Arctic Russia, Canada's North, and Greenland, this stunning Hi-Def documentary by Edmonton filmmakers Tom Radford and Niobe Thompson traces the origins of the modern Inuit in an extraordinary migration 1000 years ago and sheds new light on the first meeting of Asiatic and European settlers in the New World. The filmmakers will participate in a discussion moderated by Hugh Brody. Reception follows.

Tom Radford's career spans 35 years in the Canadian television and film industries as a writer, director, and producer portraying the distinctive character of the West and North to Canada and the world. Radford and his films have received awards from Banff to San Francisco, Toronto to Florence, leading to the Alberta Award of Excellence. His films include Inuit Odyssey, Tar Sands: Canada for Sale, Arctic Dreamer and Alberta Bound. He is the author of three books, including the best-selling Alberta, A Celebration. He founded the Northwest Studio of the National Film Board of Canada in Edmonton and was a founder of the National Screen Institute.

Niobe Thompson is a documentary filmmaker and anthropologist, with a PhD from Cambridge�12;s Scott Polar Research Institute. An experienced producer, writer and on-screen presenter, his recent films include Inuit Odyssey (CBC) and Tar Sands: Canada for Sale (CBC). He also specializes in location producing on extreme high-Arctic locations (BBC�12;s Frozen Planet and Channel 4�12;s Medicine Men Go Wild). Before joining Clearwater Media, he was Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta. His most recent book, Settlers on the Edge, is based on five years of research in the Russian Arctic.

Hugh Brody is an iconic public intellectual and a passionate defender of aboriginal cultures. Trained as an anthropologist at Oxford, Brody has lived and worked in the Canadian Arctic, northern British Columbia, the southern Kalahari, and Australia. He is the author of seven books of non-fiction, including The People's Land (1975), Maps and Dreams (1981) and The Other Side of Eden (2001), and his documentary films include the classic Eskimos of Pond Inlet (1975), Hunters and Bombers (1990) and Time Immemorial (1991). He is also a writer of feature films, including 1919 (1985), and he has written two books of fiction.

Friday, February 6, 2009 Events (free admission)

Panel Discussion Meltdown: How Inuit are Adapting to a Warming North
12:00-1:30 pm CBC Broadcast Centre, Edmonton City Centre/Churchill Square
Panel discussion with anthropologist and filmmaker Hugh Brody, Inuvialuit Elder Albert Elias and anthropologist and filmmaker Niobe Thompson, exploring the impact of a warmer Arctic on the Inuit who inhabit its landscapes. Moderated by Tiffany Burns, Anchor, CBC News Edmonton At Six.

Keynote Lecture by Hugh Brody Inuit Worlds: They Do Not Stay the Same
3:30-5:00 pm Convocation Hall, University of Alberta
The worlds of the Inuit are shifting radically, as climate change and industrial encroachment accelerate. But the Inuit have always lived in dynamic environments, surviving through adaptation. An exploration of changing landscapes and shifting states of mind in the modern Arctic. In conversation with Henry Marshall Tory Professor Mark Nuttall.

Screening The Meaning of Life (82 mins.)
7:30-9:30 pm Convocation Hall, University of Alberta
Filmmaker Hugh Brody presents his newest documentary, taking us to a prison in the mountains of British Columbia, where a unique experiment is in its tenth year. Rehabilitation is shaped by the ideas and people of the neighbouring Chehalis First Nation, and the film It raises the possibility of healing, forgiveness and redemption for lifelong aboriginal prisoners. Q&A with the Director to follow, moderated by Professor Gurs