aaju is a really compelling subject and i love that the film gives a lot of space for her to be unapologetically herself — angry, vivacious, loving, flawed, a mother a lover an activist a person. however i feel like some sequences are rushed and not given their full context as needed to connect fully with the doc. for example, i already knew a lot about the seal ban and europe’s attempts to assimilate indigenous peoples through boarding schools and families, but more fleshing out of those moments will help for those who know very little to understand the full scope of this issue. the scenes where aaju and other indigenous people are just sitting and talking about their experiences…

Hot Docs 2023 #7: Special Presentations (Canadian Premiere)

Another highly frustrating case of a movie where there's a great subject matter at hand, but the way it seems to go about with exploring it only ends up losing its way. I think I'm a little bit more forgiving towards this one because of the fact that it's trying to engage with Aaju Peter's own stances and what she stood for on behalf of the rights of the Indigenous people around her. I think there's a great story coming out from her own life, when you're considering the fact that she was regularly displaced by colonizers left and right, whether they be over in Greenland or over in Canada.

Still, I…

Occasionally, it’s enough for a documentary simply to introduce you to a fascinating, complicated human being, even if the storytelling involved gets a little fragmented and unfocused. The primary subject here is Aaju Peter, an Inuit native of Greenland and indigenous-rights activist, whose history includes being sent off to school in Denmark and wrestling with how that experience distanced her from her own culture. The pain in her life extends beyond that childhood trauma—including the death by suicide of her son, and an ongoing relationship with an emotionally and physically abusive partner—and it humanizes Peter beyond the usual hero-worship documentary profile that we see so much of the personal struggles informing her political action. There is, unfortunately, a lack of…

"Immer wenn ich dich sehe", sagt einer der Dänen erstaunt zur Protagonistin dieses Dokumentarfilms, "hast du einen Starbucks-Becher in der Hand."
Der Satz, so banal er gemeint sein mag, trifft einen Nerv, beschreibt er doch treffsicher das stereotype Bild des exotischen Indigenen, das die weißen Menschen noch immer mit ihren Köpfen herumtragen. Damit ist Twice Colonized (zu Deutsch leider: Aaju, Anwältin der Inuit) hundert Jahre später nicht weit von dem entfernt, was Robert Flaherty 1922 in Nanook of the North gezeigt hat. Sie ergeben ein beeindruckendes Wechselspiel, diese beiden Dokumentationen.
Die Inuit also noch immer im Kampf um Repräsentation – gesehen werden als die Personen, die sie sind.

Twice Colonized folgt der Aktivistin Aaju nicht nur auf angedeutetem Kampf, sondern…

i’m going to ramble a lot of thoughts i had about this movie, here we go. 

- aaju peter is an incredible person. holy shit, inspiring the amount that they do. she reminds me so much of my aunty martha 

- most of this movie takes place after Peter lost her son. like immediately after. and i’m not sure that was the best idea. peter is going through a lot, obviously, and it feels almost wrong to then shove a camera in her face. it’s certainly a very important part of the documentary, but the timing just feels slightly exploitative. 

- the title of the film is twice colonized. i wish they explored that more deeply, or at all really.…

Part of HRFFB 2023 (Human Rights Film Festival Berlin).
For those interested: (Unfortunately) No streaming via website. The second screening will be on 21.10.2023 at Kant Kino, Berlin.

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[english]

In this film, Lin Alluna accompanies Aaju Peter - A woman with a strong presence who works to achieve rights and voice for indigenous peoples in political institutions. Peter grew up in Greenland and, like many Inuit, came to Denmark as a child to go to school and "civilize" them.
Cut off from her culture and language, she feels colonized for the first time. Even today she feels very uncomfortable speaking Danish. Later, she lives in northern Canada and there, too, the government imposes restrictions on the culture and local…