Jodie Foster recognized Alaska's I?upiaq people in her Emmy acceptance speech. The shoutout didn't go unnoticed.
Sep. 18—Veteran actress Jodie Foster won another accolade this weekend: an Emmy award for her lead role in "True Detective: Night Country," a limited series set in Alaska. In her acceptance speech, Foster thanked the I?upiaq people — a recognition that warmed the hearts of many Alaskans.
"They just told us their stories, and they allowed us to listen, and it was just a blessing," Foster said in her speech, to an audience of nearly 7 million. "It was love, love, love, and when you feel that, something amazing happens. It's deep and wonderful, and it's older than this place and this time."
"For her to acknowledge our people — that was big," said Patuk Glenn, who is a media creator from Utqia?vik."We want representation. We want people to know we're still here. We're not a culture in a museum. We're still living here."
The latest season of HBO's "True Detective" is set in a fictionalized town called Ennis, which according to showrunner Issa Lopez is a collective depiction of Kotzebue, Utqia?vik and Nome. The show, which premiered last winter, follows two law enforcement agents — played by Kali Reis and Jodie Foster — as they investigate the disappearance of several men from an Arctic research center. The show has received widespread acclaim from critics, became the most-watched season of the "True Detective" series and earned a total of 19 Emmy nominations.
Producers Princess Daazhraii Johnson and Cathy Tagnak Rexford spearheaded the show's efforts to bring accurate and authentic representation to the screen. They led an I?upiaq advisory council that was formed in the early days of production.
Rexford said in a Facebook post that Foster uplifting I?upiat people with her award and voice was an emotional moment for her.
"It was so powerful, so emotional, so affirming that our stories are beautiful and deserve an international stage in film and television," Rexford said.
[Grieving family of I?upiaq woman and MMIP issues are at the center of a new play]
After hearing Foster's acceptance speech, Kotzebue resident Karmen Schaeffer Monigold reminisced on the time when Foster and Kali Reis came to her community, wanting to learn more about I?upiaq culture.
"We talked about a broad variety of topics and issues while they learned to cut fish, learned about our healing plants and made salve from the plants to take home with them," Monigold said.
Jamie Sikkattuaq Harcharek, an I?upiaq language adjunct instructor for I?isa?vik College in Utqia?vik, recently appeared in the Netflix show "Sweet Tooth." She watched Foster's speech as it was shared on TikTok.
Harcharek said that Foster mentioning the Inuit people is potentially impactful, especially considering the remote geography and limited opportunities in northern communities.
"We're not out there as much as other cultures, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we don't have access to auditions," she said. "We are so far from everybody else's mind, like we don't even exist in people's minds."
Coffee & Quaq producer Alice Qannik Glenn, who also hosted and co-wrote HBO's True Detective: Night Country Podcast, also expressed her appreciation for Foster's homage to Indigenous peoples of northern Alaska.
"Our stories, identities, experiences, and mere existence on Earth are often overlooked, silenced, put into a museum exhibit, or blatantly exploited for shock value, exotic appeal, or sensationalization," she said. "By the simple act of Jodie Foster recognizing I?upiaq people by name, she is returning the creative credit and origins of our stories to our people — for the benefit of all people. It's a simple but revolutionary act that says, 'The creative forces of Hollywood see us.'
"It might not seem like much, but for an I?upiaq girl from Utqia?vik, it reminds me that our stories have an impact all over the world, and that for creative Inuit, anything is possible."