CREATING OUR FUTURE BY TELLING OUR HISTORY
... one cup at a time
OQALUTTUAMIK
Kaffillerneq [kaf-fiɬ -ɬɜn-nɜq]; a traditional Greenlandic social gathering of celebration where coffee, food and people connect; the main setting for Oqaluttuamik.
Oqaluttuamik [ɔ-qa-lut-tu-a-mik]; a documentary series that dives into the history of Greenland through various guests at a Kaffillerneq. Forgotten and displaced knowledge, generational survival strategies, and an array of indigenous voices rewrite history in a way it has never been done before - from a Greenlandic perspective.
Release planned for 2028
8 x 45 min.
"Knowledge needs to be accessible in multiple formats: film, podcasts, books - academic or experienced knowledge. The more the merrier. Our history needs to be shared and become common knowledge. It's the only way we can be at peace with ourselves, with each other, and in the end, with the rest of the world."
Showrunner Nivi Pedersen
"When I encounter something that makes me think, I want to share that knowledge with others. To me, knowledge and experiences are of great importance to a society. When we expand our consciousness through shared knowledge, we can better understand each other."
Producer Mudi Kramer Berthelsen
Why "Oqaluttuamik"?
As indigenous people we are historically made to define ourselves from an us-and-them-perspective. We believe we must be able to position ourselves simply as human, to allow us to be just human. Inuk. Our stories are stored in our bodies and starting this project we had to start owning our personal stories to begin a conversation that others can join, because if we stay silent we will all, collectively, miss out on so much of our shared history and valuable knowledge.
That's why the audience is as important to this series as what we will bring to the screen. Oqaluttuamik opens up a space for multidimensional connections and invites conversation through the core concept of the series, which puts a culture of exchange and authenticity at its center.
We want to put our daily lives into a context of deeper understanding of Greenlandic history. We have been taught only fragments of our history and those fragments often distort by romanticizing, dichotomizing or brutalizing the past. Our aim is to be as authentic and close to what we know as possible in the curation of events, people, and facts, to build a common frame of reference for Greenlanders and for current and future dialogues – locally and internationally - to be truly constructive and based on what was and is - not what anyone hoped it was - and especially, on what can become our future.
Oqaluttuamik - our story is everyone's story.
When Mudi looked for a host for her podcast, she came across Nivi, who had started to develop her documentary series about Greenland's history. An immediate connection and collaboration was formed and Oqaluttuamik - Greenland's to date biggest documentary series - started to take shape. Having discovered what a treasure trove of history lies hidden at the Greenland University, a shared frustration emerged: Why didn't we know more about our history from elementary school? Their collaboration now aims to change this and to make Greenland's history broadly accessible, for everyone.
MUDI KRAMER BERTHELSEN
Mudi is a well-known face in Greenland and has left her mark on a number of TV shows, podcasts and radio programmes as creator, producer and host. She is known for creating her own ideas, realizing them from scratch and achieving a high success rate.
Mudi's creativity spans across many formats and media, and she often has multiple roles in projects - from hosting her own shows to working behind the scenes as creator and producer. She has also been part of several film projects, nationally as well as with Danish productions - always strengthening Greenland's presence on the screen.
Mudi continues to be an initiating figure within the film and TV landscape in Greenland. With her imaginative approach to communicating creative ideas, and with Oqaluttuamik, she is now stepping into the arena of international co-production.
NIVI PEDERSEN
Nivi is a powerhouse within the film landscape in Greenland. Her career began with a passion for storytelling combined with an academic background in Greenlandic Language, Literature and Media.
As an actress she has starred in big TV series like HBO's True Detective: Night Country and Netflix' Borgen: Power & Glory.
She is also a prizewinning producer, director and writer, who has led creative projects, managed production processes, and achieved recognition winning the Innersuaq award for her work in the industry and the Moon Jury Award at ImagiNATIVE in Toronto for the documentary Pillaurneq Ersigiunnaarpara.
Nivi is a member of the European Film Academy. With Oqaluttuamik, Nivi is realising a long time vision.
