State Theatre to Host Screening of World’s First Feature-Length Documentary Film

“Nanook of the North,” the world’s first feature-length documentary film, turns 100 this year and in honor of the centennial Kirk French, a Penn State anthropology professor and filmmaker, is collaborating with The State Theatre to host a screening of the film.

The screening at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 25, will be followed by a Q&A with French, who is working on “A Century After Nanook,” a project revisiting the iconic film. He is also helping to organize the Nanook Centennial Celebration Event that will take place in the Canadian village of Inukjuak, where “Nanook” was filmed, on June 11.

In August of 1920, aspiring American filmmaker Robert Flaherty traveled to Inukjuak to begin documenting the daily life and struggles of an Inuk man named Allakariallak and his family. “Nanook of the North: A Story of Life and Love in the Actual Arctic” premiered on June 11, 1922.

Nearly a century later, French began collaborating with the Inuit of Inukjuak in November 2019 with the goal of revisiting the film on its 100th anniversary.

“The end product will be a documentary that centers on the voices and perspectives of the Indigenous people of the area,” French said. “Through a combination of archival footage from 1920-21, interviews with local inhabitants and climate change scientists, we are collaborating with the community to document the drastic environmental and cultural changes that have taken place in the region over the last 100 years.”

Watch a preview here.

French notes that though they generate one of the world’s smallest carbon footprints, the Indigenous communities of the Arctic are experiencing the most dramatic effects of climate change, forcing many of these communities to drastically alter their traditional way of life.

Tickets for the screening of “Nanook of the North” are $8 for general admission and $5 for students and are available through The State Theatre website.