New film featuring legend of Sedna has hit Iqaluit theatre, but not everyone is happy with it

An award-winning musical based on the Inuit legend about Sedna, the goddess of the Arctic sea, featured in Iqaluit's Astro Theatre this month.

The children's animation film contains themes of love and courage and also includes an anti-bullying song.

However, for at least one Iqaluit mother, the films raised concerns, particularly around the portrayal of Inuit culture.

Jerry Thevenet, who is from NunatuKavut in Labrador and wrote, animated and produced Sedna, Empress of the Sea, said his grandmother's telling of the Inuit legend inspired the writing of the film. It's won multiple awards including for Best Original Song from France's prestigious Cannes Film Awards.

The intention of the film, he said, is to use the legend as a conversation-starter for children about residential schools.

"I was trying to come up with a film that I could use to introduce small kids to the concept of residential schools," Thevenet said. 

"I didn't want something that was dark and is gonna frighten them ... I wanted to come up with an idea that I thought could get little kids to watch and get engaged."

Thevenet said he did embellish the story of Sedna.

"I turned it into like a 1960s … musical, you know, very colourful, very lively music that kids will be attracted to," he said.

"I took a lot of liberties. You know, I'm getting a lot of flack … people are saying, well, that's not the true story. Well, it isn't supposed to be the true story. It's my memories of this tale told to me by my grandmother."

He also said it was "really meant to appeal to kids of every culture and kids across Canada."

Andrea Anderson from Iqaluit said she was shocked when she realized what the film was about.

She said she reached out to Thevenet with her concerns about information shown in the film specifically about Inuit. 

For one thing, she said the film  "was not even remotely about Sedna, it was about residential schools," which she was not expecting.