Film Summary & Using This Guide

FILM SUMMARY

In Maniitsoq, Greenland, the US aluminum giant Alcoa Corporation has been planning to build a smelting plant for years. With the promise of economic renewal,Winter's Yearningfollows the lives of the area’s loyal aging population and its stymied youth. Pictured against immense, isolating landscapes, the people await their plant and with it, the nation's possible first step towards sovereignty.

USING THIS GUIDE

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use Winter’s Yearning to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit https://communitynetwork.amdoc.org/.

LETTER FROM THE FILMMAKERS

When we traveled to Maniitsoq for the first time, it was to make a film about ALCOA’s establishment of a giant aluminum smelting plant on the edge of the town. Thousands of foreign workers were supposed to arrive in the small town of only 2,500 inhabitants. As anthropologists, we felt it was a social experiment too significant to go undocumented. We wanted to tell the story of Greenland’s biggest industrial adventure, as the locals would experience it. We expected the townspeople to be somewhat divided on the question of the plant and were honestly surprised to find that most of the town favored the project. Maniitsoq never got their plant. Perhaps they never will. But for many years, they waited for it to happen ─ and we waited, too. During this period of waiting, we got to know Maniitsoq and Maniitsoq got to know us. We fell in love with this tiny town, which has been overlooked politically and exists only in the shadows of Greenland’s larger, more influential towns. But Maniitsoq has its own charm. Wherever we went and whoever we spoke to, we sensed that people here shared a great love for their hometown. But also, a yearning. They shared their lives with us with great generosity and hearts wide open.

-- Sidse Torstholm Larsen and Sturla Pilskog, 2022