Itelmen

For centuries, the magnificent, frozen land of the Koryak Okrug on the Kamchatka peninsula was the home of the Itelmen. Nowadays, the Itelmen communities are gone and the language is rarely spoken. In this film, director Liivo Niglas follows two men returning to the habitat of their ancestors. As the two Itelmen once more travel over the snowy hills and visit the deserted villages, they slowly unravel the mysteries of the Itelmen’s extinguished way of life.

Cultural Interest

The Itelmen, also known as Kamchadal, are the original inhabitants of the Kamchatka peninsula, living in the valley of the Kamchatka River. This ethnic group formed a hunter-gatherer and fishing society, consisting of fifty thousand natives. Nowadays, there are only three thousand ethnic Itelmens left. TheItelmen language is virtually extinct, the vast majority of ethnic Itelmens being native speakers of the Russian language.

Historic Relevance

The Cossack conquest in the 18th century disrupted the native Itelmen society living in the North-Eastern part of Russia. There were frequent clashes between Cossacks and Itelmens, who rebelled against Russian domination. Also, many Itelmens were forcibly converted to Christianity. During the Soviet era the process of assimilation intensified. Itelmens were forced to leave their villages on the vast Kamchatka plains and by the end of the 1930s all children grew up speaking Russian as their main language instead of Itelmen.