Entropy

Inuit folklore has always dealt with community and drew inspiration from the immediate environment - the ice, sea, and land. As a people we thrived in proximity to the Arctic ice, yet what happens now as the ice is disappearing will affect not just the Inuit communities of the far North, but everyone. Told from an Indigenous perspective and intertwined with Greenlandic folklore the film explores the decades old relationship between the Inuit of Greenland and the ice cap set against the backdrop of the current climate crisis.

  • Inuk Jørgensen
    Writer, producer, director
    Where Dreams Are Forgotten (2023), In the Shadow of the Tugtupite (2020), Hedtoft (2019), Home (2018), Beyond the Ice (2010), Greenland Adventure Race (2007), the Bottle Cleaner (2006)
  • Frederik Elsner
    Score
    Inuup Tarraa (2005)
  • Jukka Wagnholt
    Sound technician
    Where Dreams Are Forgotten (2023)
  • Caroline Mikaelsen
    Inuit narrator
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Documentary, indigenous
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 52 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 15, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Greenland
  • Country of Filming:
    Greenland
  • Language:
    English, Kalaallisut
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Nordische Filmtage Lübeck
    Lübeck
    Germany
    November 1, 2023
    Work-in-progress
    FUTURE NORTH
  • United Nations Climate Change Conference
    Dubai
    United Arab Emirates
    December 3, 2023
    Sneak preview
    Opening film of Arctic Peoples' Day COP28
Director Biography

Award-winning short film writer/director. Educated from the university of Aarhus, Denmark, Inuk has been making home movies and short animations since his childhood in Greenland. As an adult he has been involved in several documentary and short film productions as well as being an active member of the film making community of Greenland, Film.gl. As an indigenous filmmaker he has a focus on aesthetic images and personal stories that touch upon the identity, history, and culture of the Greenlandic Inuit people.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

During a discussion with musician/composer Frederik K. Elsner about an upcoming music video - that accidentally also deals with climate change and Inuit folklore - the idea of him coming aboard a project that eventually turned out to be the short film ‘Entropy’ was born. A departure for both of us, as Frederik had never composed music for a film, and for me as I wanted this to be a collaboration of mutual inspiration all through the process; the basic idea laid the ground for us working in tandem, which in turn inspired the music, which inspired the story, which went on to form foundation for the look of the film - the images (wide lenses, whites, contrasts). We wanted to stay true to our heritage in telling a story from a Greenlandic perspective inspired by folklore of past days while making a film that was relevant to a westernized audience as well. A marriage of modern cinema and traditional Inuit storytelling. More than anything we have made before, ‘Entropy’ is a living organism, which perfectly reflects the tradition in which it’s told.

Inuit storytelling - an oral tradition as it was the colonizers who brought the written language to Greenland - has always been circular in structure as opposed to linear. It has always involved the listeners and is often addressed directly to the audience. There are often no clear protagonists - no heroes, no villains - but is focussed on community as it is the community and not a single character that develops through the story. In ‘Entropy’ the arc of the story belongs to the audience as they are taken on a journey through the landscape of the people of the great North and are invited to take part in the community of the storytelling. A perfect metaphor for the current climate crisis that we all - colonizers and colonized - have to battle as a global, human collective.

As a global community.