Young viewers can appreciate Inukshuk as a simple linear story, with intrigue, poetry and a few funny antics: two characters are enjoying playing on an ice field that is melting under the hot sun, and the arrival of a whale ensures they vanish into the ocean. But older viewers will also be able to interpret Camillelvis Théry’s tale as an illustration of the perils of global warming. In addition, it ponders the role of humanity and animals in the world, with the visual roundness evoking the circle of life. The director has said that when it came to designing these characters and the film’s graphic feel, he was inspired by sketches of ancient bone and ivory statuettes in Inuit culture. An ‘inukshuk’ is a monument made from a pile of stones, particularly by Inuit peoples in the arctic regions of North America. The term comes from Inuktitut (an Inuit spoken language) and can be translated as “that which can act like a human being” or “one that resembles a person”. The director seems to take this meaning literally and plays with the forms, having fun transforming his characters, just as the round and mighty sun changes the ice.
The drawings were all hand drawn on paper (which was light enough to be see-through) with a pen and ink. The blue paint (for the whale and the water) was applied directly on to the film. This was an enormous, painstaking task but did not put off this perfectionist director.
This is a short film to be cherished for its beauty as much as its message!
