Twice Colonized to Open @Hot Docs 2023

Twice Colonized by director Lin Alluna will be ringing in the 30th year of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival. This groundbreaking and confrontational film focuses on Greenlandic Inuk human rights lawyer Aaju Peter. The human rights activist brings her colonizing countries of Canada and Denmark to justice. The pillars of her existence were shrinking in her Inuit First Nations community. Aaju Peter dared to stand up and make a difference that would sustain future generations at the same time trying to heal the wounds inflicted upon her by her colonizers. Twice Colonized gives an intimate but dramatic lens about the heavy journey of seeking justice for Aaju Peter.

“It’s a beautiful story. Really intimate. Really personable. But it speaks to the bigger issues that we are grappling with as societies. Particularly the Danish and Canadian societies around the legacy of colonization,” said the artistic director of Hot Docs Shane Smith. When asked about Aaju Peter, Smith replies, “She’s an incredible subject. A force to be reckoned with. It’s a really special film to be opening the festival this year.” It’s a homecoming for Aaju Peter who was highlighted in Angry Inuk in which producer Alethea Arnaquq-Baril directed in 2017. The film won the Hot Docs Audiences Choice award that year as well.

The goal of Aaju Peter is to establish a forum in the European Union for indigenous, Inuk and First Nations people. It’s a global fight and she meets her colonizers head-on. This film takes you right to the source and the truth.

Proud to be Canadian?

As Canadians, we should not think that we are the ideal country. Our dark history that was swept under the rug all these generations has now been brought to everyone’s attention. These subtle but impactful stories have brought Canadians to question their values.

How will we be able to shift this narrative in our country? Especially with this constant display of historical mistreatment of the First Nations People. We are long past identifying a problem. What we need to do now is to find roads where we all will become better. Furthermore, to get rid of the short-term band-aid solutions.

If it wasn’t for pioneers like Aaju Peter, would we ever as Canadians be able to find the path to forgive ourselves? Letting our country abolish a language and culture should be unforgivable. The way that it’s standing right now we can only do a lot of forgiving but not forgetting.

Please click below for our FERNTV interview with producer Alethea Arnaquq-Baril discussing the opening night film Twice Colonized at this year’s 30th anniversary of Hot Docs