qathet film society presents
3 Ears Indigenous Film Festival
Uiksaringitara: Wrong Husband
Uiksaringitara: Wrong Husband
Friday September 25 – 7 pm
Directed by: Zacharias Kunuk
Language: Inuktitut with English subtitles
Genre: Historical Drama/Arctic Folk Tale/Magic Realism
Rated PG – 1 hour 40 min
Released: 2025
There are so many elements that bring a film together: music, performances, cinematography, etc. Mastering each element is like the delicate balance of pulling on each wire of a marionette, manipulating each component. In Wrong Husband, many of its elements come together in a way that brings culture, geography, and storytelling to the screen that most people have never seen before. Set 4,000 years ago in the Arctic, Kunuk was inspired by the Inuit stories and legends his mother told him of a time when the line between the spirit and real worlds was blurred.
Famed Canadian Inuk director Zacharias Kunuk’s Wrong Husband (Uiksaringitara) covers a diverse range of genres, including comedy, horror, and mythology, all bound into a lovers-lost plot. Kaujak (Theresia Kappianaq), a young woman promised to Sapa (Haiden Angutimarik) at birth to be husband and wife, both suffer the sudden loss of Kaujak’s father, who dies just before a stranger (Mark Taqqaugaq) from a far-off neighbouring tribe appears. While Sapa is out hunting, Kaujak’s mother (Leah Panimera) marries the stranger, who takes her and Kaujak back to his tribe. When Sapa returns and learns that his future wife has been taken away, he sets off to find them. All the while, spirits help guide, protect, and sabotage Kaujak and Sapa.
As with many films by Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, Maliglutit (Searchers)), the filmmaker takes a wide variety of genre influences into his approach to Inuit culture, storytelling, and tradition. Uiksaringitara might be the closest thing Kunuk has made to an outright horror film – including visual effects, layered and creepy soundscapes, and even some nifty creature design in the form of a looming troll-like goblin – but it’s also a race against time thriller and moral parable with a good deal of humour (bumbling fishermen, ill timed sneezes, being able to tell someone’s lot in life from the state of their pants).
While the cinematography anchors us to this very specific place, it is music that deepens our entrance to Kaujak’s and Sapa’s world via the singer/composer Inuit throat singing duo of sisters Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk Mackay, known as PISGIQ. Combining traditional songs and hauntingly beautiful new compositions that mix and loop natural sounds such as stones, bone, and drums with the sisters’ harmonies, giving voice to the spirit of Inuit Nunangat.
With this film, Kunuk explores the concept of arranged marriages and traditional Inuit beliefs, which hinge on a person’s responsibility to others. In the harsh reality of the Arctic, survival is a communal practice. Pragmatism rules and authority is rarely questioned. It also means that a promise is a promise, and not something even evil shamans, shifting Arctic winds, hungry trolls or ill-tempered suitors can break.
Once again working predominantly with non-professional actors, Kunuk allows the oral traditions and natural storytelling chops of the Inuit take hold of the steering, offering a captivating, fantastical mystery. A cautionary tale about how keeping promises can be both affirming and damaging, Uiksaringitara is another unique effort from one of Canada’s most unique talents. Wrong Husband is Zacharias Kanuk’s exercise of imagination in visualizing evil through the magical.