The Northern Film Festival in Kotzebue attracted many community residents.

Kotzebue residents turned out in record numbers last week to take a seat at the Northern Film Festival sponsored by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Chukchi Consortium Library.  The event featured five consecutive nights of movies celebrating the north, including Canada’s Snow Walker, the classic Nanook of the North, the documentary Planet Earth: Ice Worlds, the thriller Smilla’s Sense of Snow, and the provocative Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny. 

Free popcorn and drinks were enjoyed by the crowd, which numbered more than 30 on most nights.  On the final night, National Honor Society students at the local high school provided complimentary baked goods for moviegoers.  The film festival attracted many community residents who had never attended an agency program and had never been inside the National Park Service Visitor Center.  Staff received many favorable comments from those in attendance.  The most frequently asked question? “When is the next film festival?”  Now that is a sure sign of success!