Kumu Documentary: Twice Colonized
Dir Lin Alluna
Denmark, Canada and Greenland 2023, 91 min
In English, Danish, Greenlandic and Inuktitut, with English and Estonian subtitles
Introduction by polar explorers Maris and Tiit Pruuli.
Aaju Peter is an internationally renowned Inuit activist, lawyer and recipient of The Order of Canada, born in Greenland in 1960 and based in Arctic Canada. Like many other Inuit, Aaju was separated from her parents as a child. For seven years she lived with foster parents in Denmark, and the assimilation process deprived her of her native language and culture. Afterwards she fled to the Canadian Arctic, where she reclaimed her traditions, but also had to face yet another nation’s colonisation of her people.
When her son commits suicide, Aaju embarks on a personal journey to bring her colonisers to justice. She channels her pain into writing an autobiography and takes on the difficult task of creating a permanent forum for Indigenous issues in the EU, ensuring that Indigenous people have a seat and a voice in European policy. But, at the same time, Aaju struggles to break free from an abusive relationship that overshadows her life. This sets her off on a journey to revisit scenes and people from her past, in Greenland, Denmark, Canada and elsewhere. Fighting for a better future, we see her one moment putting on makeup to hide her bruises and the next speaking at the UN.
But as tension builds, a key question arises: is it possible to change the world and yourself at the same time?
Freeing her colonised mind takes all of Aaju’s effort. With help and inspiration from her family and the Indigenous people she has met around the world, she manages to finish her book. As she comes back to Iqaluit and reunites with her grandchildren, she finally feels the hope the future holds.
Twice Colonized has won numerous prizes and awards at festivals.
