Andrew Okpeaha MacLean

History

Andrew Okpeaha MacLean is a film director and screenwriter creating works in international filmmaking arenas. His films are set in his homeland, shot on location in Barrow, Alaska, starring Iñupiat people. They are among the first feature films produced in the Iñupiaq language. Andrew MacLean’s heritage is woven into how the characters make decisions, relate to each other and in how the plots develop. His work often explores paałaqtautaiññiq, a core value among his people which roughly translates as “non-violence” or “avoidance of conflict.” MacLean’s work examines how an individual and a community reacts to violence, identifying unique cultural responses to extreme situations. The Sundance Institute Native Film Program, a NACF capacity-building awardee, selected his first work, the short film Sikumi to be developed in the Producers Lab. MacLean’s first feature-length film, On the Ice, screened at the Sundance Film Festival and at select theaters throughout the country. With the support of an NACF Artist Fellowship in Film, MacLean began work on adapting the Iñuit story The Children of the Northern Lights (2013) for film. In the well-known story, a hunter sacrifices his own life to ensure the survival of the spirits of the Aurora Borealis. MacLean set the original legend in outer space, on a moon circling a distant planet. The story becomes an allegory for the choices we must make to ensure the survival of our own fragile world. (Native Arts & Cultures Foundation)

Movies

Real Talk
Real Talk
Thanks
A woman goes on a daytime show to confront a famous music producer of sexual harassment, only to find him armed with the “perfect apology.”
Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen
Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen
Self
A documentary portrait of the pioneering indigenous filmmaker and activist Merata Mita and an intimate tribute from a son about his mother that delves into the life of the first woman from an Indigenous Nation to solely direct a film anywhere in the world. Known as the grandmother of Indigenous cinema, Merata’s independent political documentaries of the 1970s and 80s highlighted injustices for Māori people and often divided the country. Mita was fearless in her life, her activism and her art. Chronicling the director’s journey to decolonize the film and television screens of New Zealand and the world, the film documents her work, her early struggles with her family and her drive for social justice that often proved personally dangerous.
Feels Good
Feels Good
Writer
Sometimes the best day of your life is the worst day of your life.
Feels Good
Feels Good
Director
Sometimes the best day of your life is the worst day of your life.
On the Ice
On the Ice
Director
In Barrow, Alaska, teenagers Qalli and Aivaaq find their bond tested when a seal-hunting trip goes wrong, resulting in the death of their friend.
On the Ice
On the Ice
Writer
In Barrow, Alaska, teenagers Qalli and Aivaaq find their bond tested when a seal-hunting trip goes wrong, resulting in the death of their friend.
Games of the North
Games of the North
Camera Operator
For thousands of years, traditional Inuit sports have been vital for survival within the unforgiving Arctic. Acrobatic and explosive, these ancestral games evolved to strengthen mind, body and spirit within the community. Following four modern Inuit athletes reveals their unique relationship to the games as they compete across the North. As unprecedented change sweeps across their traditional lands, their stories illuminate the importance of the games today.
Sikumi (On the Ice)
Sikumi (On the Ice)
Director
An Inuit hunter drives his dog team out on the frozen Arctic Ocean in search of seals, but instead, bears witness to murder. In the microscopic communities of Arctic Alaska there is no anonymity -- the hunter knows both the victim and the murderer. The murderer, claiming self-defense and desperate to avoid punishment, tries to persuade his friend to forget what he has seen, and help dispose of the body. The hunter is forced to navigate the uneasy morality of honoring the body and memory of one friend and destroying the life of another.
Natchiliagniaqtuguk Aapagalu
Natchiliagniaqtuguk Aapagalu
Writer
An Inuit father teaches his son to hunt seals.
Natchiliagniaqtuguk Aapagalu
Natchiliagniaqtuguk Aapagalu
Director
An Inuit father teaches his son to hunt seals.
Children of the Northern Lights
Children of the Northern Lights
Writer
Two astronauts on a mission to find a new supply of energy land on a planet where alien beings offer a chance at a survival at a great cost.
Children of the Northern Lights
Children of the Northern Lights
Director
Two astronauts on a mission to find a new supply of energy land on a planet where alien beings offer a chance at a survival at a great cost.