Being a film made by Inuit and for the Inuit community, Atanarjuat offers the public a privileged look at Northern society. Over the course of the film, many viewers are exposed to elements of Inuit culture with which they are unfamiliar. The film's director, Zacharias Kunuk, faces a paradox because he wants viewers to feel a part of Inuit culture, but they fail to truly understand the cultural traditions depicted in the film. Most viewers have never lived in an Inuit community and have little sense of the ideologies that persist in Inuit society. Since Atanarjuat is not intended to be an educational film, it is not self-explanatory. There are many moments in the film that cannot be adequately understood by non-Inuit viewers, and despite his goal of inclusion, Kunuk offers no explanation to ease the audience into the culture. In analyzing the film, non-Inuit critics are presented with the challenge of describing First Nations art while being aware of the power imbalances inherent in doing so. Because Atanarjuat serves as a counter-reading to the popular myth of the Inuit, the film portrays the Inuit as they perceive themselves rather than as broader Canadian society would represent them. This shift from the center of society towards an underrepresented group is an example of decentralization. While Kunuk establishes a connection between the Inuit characters in the film and the non-Inuit viewers, he also provides many moments of intentional inaccessibility, reminding viewers that in this case the Inuit are privy to more information than the non-Inuit audience. Before we look specifically at Atanarjuat, we must recognize the dangers of describing...... middle of paper ......n. The film serves as a counter-reading to popular Inuit myth, and viewers face challenges as parts of the film are inaccessible. By not explaining important conventions that appear in the film, the filmmakers remind Anglo-Canadians that there is an entire society in the North that is different from theirs. Igloolik Isuma Productions primarily targets an Inuit audience by producing Inuktitut films and TV shows, but Atanarjuat also targets a global audience. Works CitedAtanarjuat. Dir. Zaccaria Kunuk. Igloolik Isuma Productions, 2000.Cohn, Norman. “The Art of Community-Based Cinema.” Brick 70 (2002): 21-3. King, Thomas. “Godzilla against the postcolonial”. Unfamiliar States: Theorizing English-Canadian Postcolonialism. Canada: Broadview, 2004. 183-90. Krupat, Arnold. "Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner and His Audience." Critical inquiry 33 (2007): 606-31.