Invisible (2007)

We think of the arctic as a pristine wilderness, and when scientists went to collect breast milk from Inuit mothers, they were expecting to find the purest milk anywhere on earth. But the levels went off the scale. The milk of the Inuit mothers was loaded with chemicals which had migrated from the south and built up in their traditional food… the seal, whale and bear meat the Inuit people had been eating for centuries was slowly poisoning them. Today, scientists cannot find a single woman anywhere in the world who does not have these chemicals in her breast milk.

In this beautiful and thought-provoking film, artist and film maker Roz Mortimer leads us on a hypnotic journey to the High Arctic. Using historical texts, medieval maps and contemporary first person accounts, Mortimer explores the traditional relationship Inuit have to the earth and gently challenges our Western relationship to science and knowledge. This poetic and visually stunning film weaves epic scenes of contemporary Inuit life with startling throat singing performances and staged tableaux set within the frozen Arctic landscape.

INVISIBLE is driven by a unique musical score including free-yoik from Sami musician Wimme Saari, live and operatic throat singing from Inuit artist Tanya Tagaq and an exquisite theremin composition from Michael Kosmides.
 Featuring the award winning environmental scientist Theo Colborn; the chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference Sheila Watt-Cloutier; and Inuit mothers who offer emotionally charged testimonies; this provocative film resists the conventions of science documentaries and questions how we live in the world today.

Filmed entirely on Baffin Island, Nunavut, in the communities of Iqaluit and Qikiqtarjuaq.