Twice Colonized

Synopsis
Renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter has spent her life leading the fight for the rights of her people. Now, just as she is launching an initiative to establish an indigenous forum at the European Union, she also finds herself facing a difficult, personal journey to mend her own wounds after the unexpected passing of her son.

Jury motvation
The documentary Twice Colonized does what no film co-produced and co-written in Greenland has done before in terms of the subject matter addressed and the international acclaim accrued. Filmmaker Lin Alluna captures the life of Aaju Peter in raw handheld camera footage, and the incredible soundtrack makes the soundscape highly original. The film depicts the calmness of the day-to-day Arctic life of a loving family woman with impeccable intimacy, balancing it with a portrayal of a strong, visionary and energetic woman fighting for the human rights of the Inuit people.

The film also shows the struggles in her personal life as she deals with the loss of her son and is haunted by an abusive ex-boyfriend with raw, unfiltered emotions. In pursuit of her goals, Aaju Peter has to confront her past. Like many of her generation, she was sent to school in Denmark. Not knowing the culture and language, she had to adapt and lose her identity as an Inuk. As an adult, Peter had to move to Canada to rediscover her Inuit identity, and because of that, she is a bridge between two Inuit cultures as she fights for a better future for Inuit and other indigenous peoples.

With its timely and on-the-nose storytelling, Twice Colonized highlights the highly political everyday struggle of a people in a post-colonial world. Themes of identity – personal and national – run through this uniquely Greenlandic story.