As global attention on the Arctic intensifies, Indigenous filmmakers and institutions are pushing for something more substantial than just visibility, ie. control over how stories are told, who benefits from them and what productions leave behind them. That was the central argument running through the discussion “North is Now: Indigenous Storytelling in the Arctic”, held at TIFF: The Market (10-16 September) on 14 September and moderated by Kerry Swanson, CEO of the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO).

Greenlandic-Canadian artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, whose VR work Tartupaluk is premiering in the market’s Innovation Hub, described collaboration as “the ultimate artistic experience”, but stressed that it implied listening as well as Indigenous creative leadership. Her Canadian-Greenlandic-Danish project, produced by Scintilla, Nation of Lovers Productions and Ánorâk Film, took years of conversation to build. Williamson Bathory said the production deliberately put Inuit professionals in leadership positions across all departments, from assistant directing and costume to illustration and work on the land.

Anne Lajla Utsi, managing director of the International Sámi Film Institute (ISFI), argued that equality, trust and respect for Indigenous “narrative and creative sovereignty” should be the starting point for any co-production. Recalling ISFI’s collaboration with Disney on Frozen 2, she said discussions around ownership needed to begin early, adding that Indigenous creators should not only write and direct but also retain stakes in the finished work. International collaboration, she stated, should leave Indigenous filmmakers and companies stronger than before.

That principle also shaped Vinnie Karetak’s experience co-directing the Canadian-Dutch feature In Alaska with Jaap van Heusden. Karetak said the Dutch filmmaker had already consulted On-Screen Protocols & Pathways before bringing him into the project. Rather than removing painful material, the pair chose to address it without sensationalising it or retraumatising Inuit communities. For Karetak, the key was being able to attach his name to a film whose process and perspective he could stand behind.

The discussion then widened its scope from production practice to geopolitics. Williamson Bathory pointed out that current pressures on the Arctic could not be separated from longer histories of colonial extraction and “institutional poverty”. Tartupaluk, a political satire imagining a new Arctic republic on the island long contested by Canada and Greenland, may be playful in form, she said, but its underlying proposition is serious: Indigenous political structures and cultural relationships exist beyond colonial borders.

Utsi connected that argument to Sápmi, where mining, wind-energy development and other forms of industrialisation continue to put pressure on Indigenous lands and reindeer-grazing areas. She pointed to the Arctic Indigenous Film Fund, established in 2018, as one attempt to reinforce circumpolar Indigenous filmmaking as international interest in the region grows. “It’s not just about the big money and the big politics,” she said. “This is our home.”

For Karetak, narrative sovereignty also means refusing to over-explain Inuit life for outsiders. Indigenous artists, he argued, should be able to create stories “from Inuit to Inuit”, leaving other audiences to do the work of understanding cultural references rather than demanding constant translation. Williamson Bathory echoed that position, describing non-Inuit viewers as having “the privilege of bearing witness” to those conversations.

The panel also addressed the industrial consequences of building Indigenous screen sectors in remote regions. Utsi said production should create jobs allowing younger generations to remain in their home communities and work there as filmmakers, editors and technicians. She highlighted Amanda Kernell’s Brace Your Heart, premiering in the Platform competition, alongside market projects such as Oskar Östergren Njajta’s animated flick Saajve and Ann Holmgren’s drama Porslin.

When questions about artificial intelligence were raised, the response was cautious. Karetak underlined the huge variation existing between the different Inuit dialects and communities, while Utsi said Sámi institutions are examining how AI can interact with Indigenous languages without compromising cultural integrity. Williamson Bathory also mentioned the environmental resources consumed by AI systems.

Looking ten years ahead, the speakers’ ambitions were less about greater representation than stronger infrastructure. Utsi hoped the next generation would no longer have to spend its energy building institutions and fighting for basic resources. Williamson Bathory predicted younger artists would create forms their predecessors had not imagined, whilst Karetak pointed to renewed pride in throat singing, drum dancing, language and storytelling as evidence that the shift is already under way.