Norman Cohn

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Norman Cohn's picture

Norman Cohn (b. 1946, New York) is a video artist and filmmaker, and president and co-founder with Zacharias Kunuk of Kunuk Cohn Productions, Isuma Distribution International and IDI's website IsumaTV. A Canadian citizen since 1981, Cohn lived and worked in Igloolik from 1985-2005. In 1990, as one of the four founding partners of Igloolik Isuma Productions Inc. with Kunuk, elder Pauloosie Qulitalik and the late Paul Apak, Cohn's early video work helped develop Isuma’s signature style of ‘re-lived' cultural drama, combining the authenticity of modern activist video with the ancient art of Inuit storytelling.

Cohn is producer, co-writer and director of photography for the Cannes-winning Atanarjuat The Fast Runner, Nunavut (Our Land) TV series and the rest of Isuma’s collective videography through 2005; and co-director with Kunuk on The Journals of Knud Rasmussen which opened the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. Cohn led IsumaTV starting in 2007 and was co-Project Leader with Zacharias Kunuk of Digital Indigenous Democracy, the 2012-14 initiative using new media to inform and consult Inuit to improve democratic participation in the Baffinland Iron Mine environmental review. Cohn co-directed with Kunuk the 2014 non-fiction feature, My Father's Land, based on the events surrounding the Baffinland intervention. Before coming to Igloolik Cohn’s solo video exhibition, Norman Cohn: Portraits, opened in 1983 at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Vancouver Art Gallery, National Gallery of Canada, Musee des arts contemporain and 49th Parallel Gallery in NY. Cohn's experimental non-fiction feature, Quartet for Deafblind (1986), was selected for Dokumenta 8 in Kassel, Germany. Winner of a 1990 Guggenheim Fellowship to assist his work with Kunuk in Igloolik, Cohn was co-winner with Kunuk of the 1994 Bell Canada Award for Outstanding Achievement in Video Art. Most recently, Kunuk, Cohn and the 30-year ISUMA media art project have been selected to represent Canada in the 2019 Venice Biennale.

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Activity

  • DID working channel

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

     <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ETD0MlgPE6I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

     

    PRIVATE channel to use as a working space before going public. 

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 03-05-2012

  • Exploring Inuit Culture Online

    uploaded by: Gabriela Gamez

    Exploring Inuit Culture ONLINE is a multi-media learning material designed for grades 4-6, to teach students about the Inuit, the native people of the Canadian Arctic, and Nunavut, the newest territory in Canada established in 1999. The Lesson Plans are available in PDF format and can be downloaded.… Read more

    uploaded date: 15-06-2009

  • IKCC Screenings

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    Book Screenings

    Book screenings, rent or buy copies of Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change from our distributor Vtape. Contact Wanda at +1.416.351.1317 or email wandav@vtape.org.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 06-12-2010

  • In memory: Mariano Abarca Roblero memoria

    uploaded by: samcc

    *Para el Español, haga clic en READ MORE*

    Last year in the evening of November 27th 2009, prominent anti-mining activist and community organizer Mariano Abarca Roblero was murdered in front of his home in the Chiapas town of Chicomuselo. He is survived by a wife and four children.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 27-11-2010

  • Kingulliit The Next Generation Blog

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    Kingulliit The Next Generation Blog is a Related Channel to the site Kingulliit The Next Generation. This related channel documents activities in 2010 and 2011 to move Inuktitut-language multimedia into a new generation of production and distribution through new media and new internet technologies. Starting November 2010, Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk leads a team to Nunavut communities to show how IsumaTV Hi-speed MediaPlayers boost slow internet to high-speed for over 2000 films on www.isuma.tv. Kunuk also screens in each community his newest documentary film, Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change, by downloading it from the internet using a Hi-speed MediaPlayer. Kunuk travels with Paul Quassa, former president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., Canadian rock-star Lucie Idlout and Nunavut filmmaker, David Poisey, to introduce the potential benefits of faster internet for watching over 720 films in Inuktitut among a total of 2000 Inuit and Aboriginal films in 41 languages worldwide. John Hodgins, IsumaTV Technical Manager, installs the Hi-speed MediaPlayers in schools, libraries, youth centres or other locations where people can gain access to IsumaTV’s collection, and where local community videos can be uploaded to the worldwide website. This blog follows the process of their travels and results. Please join us to upload comments, suggestions, videos, photos or other materials relating to bringing Inuit and Aboriginal media out of the past and into the digital future.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 25-11-2010

  • My Father's Land

    uploaded by: Norman Cohn

    My Father's Land (Attatama Nunanga) by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn. 163 mins. Inuktitut and English, (c) Kingulliit Productions 2014.… Read more

    uploaded date: 11-07-2014

  • Norman Cohn Commentary

    uploaded by: Norman Cohn

    Sometime commentary or information related to IsumaTV's Digital Indigenous Democracy (DID) by Norman Cohn, DID co-director.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 06-07-2010

  • Norman Cohn Video

    uploaded by: Norman Cohn

    Norman Cohn's selected video work 1970-present, channel in progress, stay tuned. 1979-1986: Children in Hospital (3 parts), In my end is my beginning (5 parts); How We Lived (8 parts); Quartet for deafblind.… Read more

    uploaded date: 05-03-2009

  • Nunatsiaq News Online

    uploaded by: Norman Cohn

    Nunatsiaq News, based in Iqaluit and founded in 1973, is an English-Inuktitut weekly newspaper that has served the people of Nunavut and the Nunavik region of Arctic Quebec since 1973. Is it the premier source of news for the Eastern Canadian Arctic and is available in every Nunavut community.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 21-02-2011

  • Paul Apak Expedition Videos

    uploaded by: Norman Cohn

    This channel presents Paul Apak's two Expedition Films, Qidtlarssuaq by dogteam from Igloolik to Qanaaq, Greenland; and Umiaq by walrus skin boat from Siberia to Alaska across the Bering Strait. Paul Apak Angilirq (1954-1998) was vice-president and co-founder of Igloolik Isuma Productions in 1990.… Read more

    uploaded date: 04-09-2008

  • The Films of Alanis Obomsawin: Video on Demand

    uploaded by: Norman Cohn

    Alanis Obomsawin, a member of the Abenaki Nation, is one of Canada’s most distinguished documentary filmmakers. Obomsawin's series documenting the 1990 Mohawk uprising in Kanehsatake and Oka begins with Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), a feature-length film which has won 18 international awards.

    The Oka Crisis

    Four films on the 1990 Mohawk Uprising

    Atanajuat

    View in SD

    More about Alanis | Official website

    Download

    Incident at Restigouche

    Police raid reserve in June 1981.

    Journals of Knud Rasmussen

    View in SD

    More about NFB | Press Materials

    Download

    Is the Crown at war with us?

    Thirty years of Aboriginal filmmaking

    Before Tomorrow

    View in SD

    Filmography | News and Resources

    Download

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 12-11-2009

  • ARTCO

    uploaded by: David Ertel

    ARTCO "Artisans of Today's Communities" is a project led by Kingulliit Productions and IsumaTV where Inuit and Cree children use new media tools to explore their past and present realities, practice collective action and create a better future.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 22-08-2011

  • Distribution

    uploaded by: John Hodgins

    These urls are direct links to 1080p h264 files for Isuma Productions. They can be copied (right-click and select "Copy Link Location") and pasted and emailed directly to authorized clients. These urls are specially encoded and stop working after 24 hours from the time you loaded this page. To generate new urls, simply refresh this page.

    This page is a private page and is visible only to it's members. Only people who are acting as distributors for Isuma Productions should have access to this page. Clients who are licensing these videos should be sent the appropriate download urls. They should not be given access to this page.

    Atanarjuat 1080p (english subtitles) part 1
    Atanarjuat 1080p (english subtitles) part 2

    JKR 1080p (english subtitles) part 1
    JKR 1080p (english subtitles) part 2

    BT 1080p (english subtitles) part 1
    BT 1080p (english subtitles) part 2
    BT 1080p (spanish subtitles)
    BT 1080p (french subtitles)

    Tungijuq h264 (431MB)
    Tungijuq MPEG (1.2GB)

    Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change (english subtitles) (2.6 GB)
    Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change (french subtitles) (2.6 GB)

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 27-01-2010

  • Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change

    uploaded by: Ian Mauro

     

    COMMENT or DISCUSS the film

    Video on Demand

    Download in SD

    Download in 720p HD

    Download in 1080p HD

    BOOK A SCREENING, rent or buy the film from Vtape +1.416.351.1317 email wandav@vtape.org.

    About the film

    Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change had its world premiere October 23, 2010, at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto. The complete film also streamed online simultaneously watched by more than 1500 viewers around the world. Following the film, a Q&A with filmmakers Zacharias Kunuk and Dr. Ian Mauro included live call-in by Skype from viewers from Pond Inlet, New York, Sydney, Australia and other locations.

    Nunavut-based director Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat The Fast Runner) and researcher and filmmaker Dr. Ian Mauro (Seeds of Change) have teamed up with Inuit communities to document their knowledge and experience regarding climate change. This new documentary, the world’s first Inuktitut language film on the topic, takes the viewer “on the land” with elders and hunters to explore the social and ecological impacts of a warming Arctic. This unforgettable film helps us to appreciate Inuit culture and expertise regarding environmental change and indigenous ways of adapting to it.

    READ MORE
    Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change had its world premiere October 23, 2010, at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto. The complete film also streamed online simultaneously watched by more than 1500 viewers around the world. Following the film, a Q&A with filmmakers Zacharias Kunuk and Dr. Ian Mauro included live call-in by Skype from viewers from Pond Inlet, New York, Sydney, Australia and other locations.

     

    Nunavut-based director Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat The Fast Runner) and researcher and filmmaker Dr. Ian Mauro (Seeds of Change) have teamed up with Inuit communities to document their knowledge and experience regarding climate change. This new documentary, the world’s first Inuktitut language film on the topic, takes the viewer “on the land” with elders and hunters to explore the social and ecological impacts of a warming Arctic. This unforgettable film helps us to appreciate Inuit culture and expertise regarding environmental change and indigenous ways of adapting to it.

    Exploring centuries of Inuit knowledge, allowing the viewer to learn about climate change first-hand from Arctic residents themselves, the film portrays Inuit as experts regarding their land and wildlife and makes it clear that climate change is a human rights issue affecting this ingenious Indigenous culture. Hear stories about Arctic melting and how Inuit believe that human and animal intelligence are key to adaptability and survival in a warming world.

    Community-based screenings of the film are now being organized across Canada. Stay tuned for more information, new blog posts and videos added to this channel regularly.

    Please feel free to contact us should you like to organize a screening in your area. Email us: isuma@isuma.ca.

    LESS INFO
     
    … Read more

    uploaded date: 29-04-2009

  • IsumaTV

    uploaded by: IsumaTV

    This channel showcases Radio and Video interviews with the minds behind IsumaTV, and their reflections about its development.

    IsumaTV is a collaborative multimedia platform for indigenous filmmakers and media organizations. Each user can design their own space, or channel, to reflect their own identity, mandate and audience.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 10-02-2008

  • Kingulliit

    uploaded by: Stéphane Rituit

    ᑭᖑᓪᓖᑦ ᐅᖄᕗᖅ ᐃᓄᓐᓂᒃ ᐃᓅᓕᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᔪᓂᒃ 1900-ᐄᑦ ᐊᕐᕌᒍᕐᖄᕕᓂᖏᓐᓂ 30-ᓂ. ᐊᑦᓯᔭᐅᒪᔪᕕᓃᑦ `ᑭᖑᕚᖑᓕᕐᑐᑦ` ᓯᕗᓪᓕᐹᐅᓐᓂᕋᒥᒃ ᐊᕐᕌᒍᒐᓴᕐᔪᐊᓂ ᓵᑦᓯᓱᑎᒃ ᐊᑦᔨᐅᖏᑦᑐᒥᒃ ᓄᓇᕐᔪᐊᖑᒻᒥᔪᒥᒃ ᐊᓯᑦᔨᓚᐅᕐᓯᒪᓐᖏᑑᑉ ᖃᐅᔨᒻᒫᕆᔭᐅᑦᓱᓂᓗ ᓴᓂᐊᓐᓂᑦ ᑲᒪᒋᔭᐅᓕᓂᒻᒪᕆᐅᑦᓱᓂ ᐊᒥᓱᒐᓴᕐᔪᐊᓄᑦ ᑭᒍᕚᕇᕐᑎᑐᓄᑦ ᑌᑦᓱᒪᓐᖓᓂᐊᓗᒃ.… Read more

    uploaded date: 04-12-2012

  • Lloyd Lipsett Human Rights

    uploaded by: Lloyd Lipsett

    A channel of commentary and documents by Lloyd Lipsett, human rights lawyer and leader of a 2012-13 Human Rights Impact Assessment of the $6 billion Baffinland Iron Mine proposed development in the middle of north Baffin Island.

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 07-05-2012

  • Our Baffinland Atlas

    uploaded by: Ian Mauro

    ABOUT OUR BAFFINLAND

    The Arctic is warming double the global average, decreasing sea ice, making it easier to access and extract mineral and oil resources from the region, and this cumulative climatic and economic change has significant human and environmental health implications for Inuit and their communities. In Nunavut, the proposed Baffinland Iron Mine, at the site of Mary River, is one of the largest industrial developments ever conceived for the Arctic, and will involve year-round shipping of ore across sensitive permafrost, marine ecosystems and regions of cultural significance that have and continue to be used by Inuit. The Our Baffinland project explores Inuit knowledge regarding mining, and shows a walrus and caribou hunting expedition and associated interviews with elders across this landscape. This digital media presentation highlights the complexities of "Arctic Development".

    CREATIVE TEAM

    A production of: Kingulliit Productions Inc.

    Executive Producers: Norman Cohn and Zacharias Kunuk

    Producers: Zacharias Kunuk, Stéphane Rituit, and Ian Mauro.

    Project Managers: Gabriela Gámez, Gillian Robinson and Ian Mauro

    Creative Directors: Zacharias Kunuk and Ian Mauro

    Technology Director and Programmer: John Hodgins

    Designer and Animator: Marc Labelle

    Video and Photography: David Poisey, Jon Frantz, Zacharias Kunuk and Ian Mauro

    Sound: Tobias Haynes

    Editors: Ian Mauro, Jon Frantz, Craig Norris and Carol Kunnuk

    Translators: Carol Kunnuk and Sarah Arnatsiaq

    Research: Ian Mauro

    PARTNERS AND SUPPORT

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 12-09-2013

  • The Fast Runner Trilogy

    uploaded by: John Hodgins

    Three unique Inuit films expressing the dramatic history of one of the world’s oldest oral cultures from it’s own point of view.
    “A masterpiece... The first national cinema of the 21st century.” – A.O. Scott, NY Times review of Atanarjuat The Fast Runner, 2002.

    Atanarjuat The Fast Runner

    2001 Camera d'Or, Cannes

    Atanajuat

     

    View

    More about film | Companion website

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    Download in 1080p HD

    The Journals of Knud Rasmussen

    2006 Opening Night Film, Toronto

    Journals of Knud Rasmussen

     

    View

    More about film | Companion website

    Download in SD

    Download in 720p HD

    Download in 1080p HD

    Before Tomorrow

    2009 World Cinema Competition, Sundance

    Before Tomorrow

     

    View

    More about film | Companion website

    Download in SD

    Download in 720p HD

    Download in 1080p HD

    … Read more

    uploaded date: 23-10-2009