Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Director
Biography
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 IƱupiat people. They are among the first feature films produced in the IƱupiaq language.
Andrew MacLeanās heritage is woven into how the characters make decisions, relate to each other and in how the plots develop. His work often explores paaÅaqtautaiƱƱiq, a core value among his people which roughly translates as ānon-violenceā or āavoidance of conflict.ā MacLeanās 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. MacLeanās 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 IƱuit 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)
