Twice Colonized is a documentary film, directed by Lin Alluna and released in 2023.[1] The film is a co-production of companies from Canada, Denmark and Greenland, and profiles Aaju Peter, an Inuk lawyer and activist who has lived in both Greenland and Nunavut, documenting both her activism for Inuit rights and her personal struggles.[2]
Twice Colonized documents Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter. Aaju's Inuit people have been "twice colonized"—first by Danish settlers in Greenland, and then by modern-day Canadian policies and institutions. As an activist, she defends the human rights of Indigenous peoples of the Arctic, urging Westerners to reflect on their history of colonization. While she advocates to establish an Indigenous forum at the European Union, she embarks on a personal journey regarding the loss of her youngest son.
The film was made over a seven year period by director Lin Alluna and co-writer Aaju Peter. It is the first co-production between Inuit across colonial borders.[9] The financing had to be set up through the co-production treaty between the colonizing nations of Canada and Denmark to fund the film.[10]
Arnaquq-Baril had previously made the 2016 film Angry Inuk, which began as a documentary about Peter, but evolved into an issue-based film including but not entirely centred on Peter, as Arnaquq-Baril struggled to depict a more personal side of Peter's life.[9] In an interview with The Guardian, Peter says: "In this one I wanted everything shown, (...) and how hard it has been for me to be colonized and to reclaim myself. I wanted Lin to show all the good all the bad and everything in between."[11]
Critical response
Twice Colonized received positive reviews from critics at Variety, The Guardian, Screen Daily[4], and Exclaim![2] Guy Lodge of Variety calls it a character study that "has a curiosity and a complexity that distinguish it from various other admiring activist portraits in the documentary sphere."[1]
Veronica Esposito of The Guardian notes that director Alluna finds “scenes and images that implicate numerous sides of her subject, while drawing in the web of relationships and power structures that surround her."[11]
Awards and Honors
Activist Aaju Peter with director Lin Alluna, after winning the best feature length documentary prize at the Canadian Screen Awards 2024 for Twice Colonized.
The film was nominated for best documentary at the Danish Academy Award Robert Prisen 2024[20] and the Danish Golden Globes Bodil 2024[21]
Pitch Awards
Winner of the Arctic Documentary Award for best political, environmental and cultural relevance at Tromsø International Filmfestival's North Pitch Below Zero 2019.[22]
Winner of Corus prize and Surprise Prize at Hot Docs Forum 2019.
Winner of best pitch at Cannes docs-in-progress at Cannes Film Festival Marché du Film 2022. Handing out the prize, jury member Gugi Gumilang, executive director at In-Docs, said: "The project really struck a chord with the jury for its outstanding empathetic storytelling as it explores a strong woman who wants to change herself and the world. The film walks an emotional tightrope and asks us broader questions around our culpability in systems of inequality."[24]
FIFP, Anthropological Film Festival, DocPoint Helsinki, Afro-Asian Institute Salzburg, Estonian National Art Museum, One World Human Rights Prague Film Festival, Mâoriland Film Festival, UCD - Ireland's Global University, Human Rights Film Festival Zürich, Scandinavian Film Days Bonn, LSE University, CIRCLE Women Doc, Evia Film Project (Thessaloniki film festival), Haugesund International Film Festival, Oslo Pix, Helsinki International Film Festival, Cinemateket i Tromsø, BIFED, Beholders Film Festival.
