Nyla Innuksuk is an Inuit film director, writer, and producer, and virtual realitycontent creator. She is the CEO of Mixtape VR, formerly known as NKSK.
Innuksuk has mainly worked on short documentary and fiction films focusing on Inuit and Indigenous peoples' stories. Her films are portraits of communities and community members in the Arctic, with a strong commitment to including community members in production phases of a film. Her films often also have a focus on the youth in Inuit communities, and the social problems they face. Innuksuk has also won Canada's Pitch This competition by Telefilm Canada for her project titled Qalupalik. She was director resident at the Canadian Film Centre.
''Kajutaijuq'' (2015)
Co-written and co-produced by Innuksuk, Kajutaijuq premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was selected as one of the Canada's Top TenShort Films from 2014. Set in the Arctic wilderness, the fiction film follows a hunter, played by Johnny Issaluk, who uses traditional skills to survive. The film is also included in Reel Canada's Indigenous Programme for Canadian National Film Day.
Innuksuk is the writer, director and producer for the upcoming Arctic set sci-fi adventure Slash/Back about a group of 14-year old Inuit girls who fight an alien invasion in Nunavut. The film is the first feature movie ever shot in Pangnirtung, Nunavut and is produced by Nyla Innuk's Mixtape VR, Daniel BekermanScythia Films, Christopher Yurkovich & Alex Ordanis of Stellar Citizens and Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril of Red Marrow Media and Ethan Lazar. The script was written by Nyla Innuksuk and Ryan Cavan. The film stars Iqaluit, Nunavut locals Tasiana Shirley, Alexis Vincent-Wolfe, Nalajoss Ellsworth, Chelsea Prusky, and Frankie Vincent-Wolfe. Innuksuk and a crew of 50 people shot on Baffin Islandin the summer of 2019. Sierra/Affinity represents the film for International Sales. The film was presented at the Frontières Co-Pro Market in Montréal in 2018, then went on to Helsinki for Frontières Finance and Packaging Forum in 2019 before presenting at the Frontières Platform at the Marché du Film in Cannes in 2019.
Since April 2015, Innuksuk has been a co-owner at the non-for-profit startup, Pinnguaq. With Innuksuk joining the Pinnguaq team, they created the department called Pinnguaq Productions. This division specializes in virtual reality and 360 degree filmmaking. Projects have included capturing the Pope's 2015 visit to Ecuador and the creation of an interactive trailer for Bang Bang Baby a Toronto International Film Festival film. Innuksuk has worked with a variety of artists such as from The Strumbellas, Glenn Gould, Philip Glass, as well as Indigenous artists Tanya Tagaq and A Tribe Called Red. The recent project with A Tribe Called Red, called DocX: A Tribe Called Red: Indian City 360°, is an immersive virtual reality that allows the listener to be the DJ and mix their own track. Innuksuk left Pinnguaq in March 2017.
''2167''
In partnership with Toronto International Film Festival, imagineNATIVE, and the Initiative for Indigenous Futures, Pinnguaq Productions created the 2167 project. Using virtual reality, this project asks artists to imagine what a future Canada may look like.
