80 minutes: Family, adventure, animation
Language: English & French versions
Release date: March 1, 2013 (Québec)
Canadian distributor: Alliance Vivafilm

Based on an original idea from Pierre Tremblay, who co-wrote the screenplay, The Legend of Sarila is Canada’s 3rd 3D animated feature. It is set in the far north in the Autumn of 1910. An encampment of Inuit nomads is threatened by famine and the situation is growing dire. Day after day, the hunters return empty-handed. The tribe’s aged shaman, Kiliq, is unable to solve the problem. The clan’s wise woman, Saya, recalls the legend of Sarila, a promised land hidden among the glaciers, where wild game is said to be plentiful. Legend has it that only those with pure hearts may enter this hallowed place. Three of the clan’s young people, chosen by Kiliq’s treacherous crow Kwatak, agree to go in search of Sarila in order to save their tribe. There is Putulik, the chief’s son; the beautiful Apik, his fiancée; and Markussi who only Kiliq and Saya have discerned has a shaman’s gifts and is therefore a threat to the old leader’s power. With the help of the forces of evil, Kiliq throws up obstacles to impede the mission of the three young Inuit. Along the way, Markussi must learn to accept and use his shamanic powers and he ultimately leads the tiny expedition to Sarila. There he is given a new mission by the goddess Sedna: unmask the treacherous Kiliq and take his place as shaman. It will mean a fight to the death between two sharmans, an epic battle from which Markussi must emerge victorious or doom his clan to the forces of evil at Kiliq’s hands.

Poster and image courtesy of Alliance VivaFilm
Also see: The Making of The Legend of Sarila.