Sol

Both a film-investigation and a film-tribute, *Sol* is also a necessary space for the community of Igloolik to speak out following the tragic death of Solomon, a young Inuit artist who died at the age of 26 in troubling circumstances. 

An arrest that goes awry. A detention that leads to his death. The impossibility for the family to see the body. The questions fly and are met with the authorities' indifferent silence. Everyone tries to understand, because in this small community, one suicide often echoes another, reviving the pain and traumas of the past. How can we move forward and think about the future when these upsetting events continually bring back regret, loss and a feeling of powerlessness?

The answers eventually come, belatedly. More than two years after the fateful night, a suicide is confirmed. Doubt persists, confidence is shattered... We finally accept the fact that we will never really know. But as rapper and film protagonist Brian Tagalik poignantly points out, "We don't lose people to suicide, we lose them to residential schools, to assimilation; because they no longer know who they are or what they want to become."

A poignant film that deftly alternates between celebrating the life of this free spirit and unapologetically denouncing the circumstances of his demise.

Jason Burnham
Tënk's programming coordinator