Eskimo

The life of a hunter in northwestern Alaska is wrecked after he falls in with a greedy white trader who has come to the region. What the trader does to his wife changes everything; the hunter demands an accounting and the mounted police come after him. The title of the film belongs to the language of its period. The production carries several firsts: it was the first feature shot in a Native language, Inupiaq, the first feature shot in Alaska, and the winner of the first Academy Award ever given for film editing. Ray Mala plays the lead; the story comes from books by Peter Freuchen, who also appears in the film. W.S. Van Dyke’s hundred and seventeen minute film was completed in 1933.