A Qayaq to Carry Us

Documentary | MARK BLAINE, Sven Haakanson, & Torsten Kjellstrand

A QAYAQ TO CARRY US explores the issues of merging traditional knowledge, and modern science to help highlight the human ingenuity that is embodied within traditional practices — and place that knowledge in a dynamic, living context with the young people of Kodiak Island. Through the lens of Dr. Sven Haakanson and community members from Akhiok at Akhiok’s Kids Camp, an annual gathering, the project focuses on their work near one of Alaska’s largest groupings of petroglyphs on the southern tip of Kodiak Island, building a kayak from wood gathered off the beaches of Cape Alitak.

3 episodes/various lengths

Release: March 19, 2022

Expiration: March 18, 2025

Distributor: NETA

NOLA: QYAQ 000100 H1

Rights: Unlimited releases over three (3) years beginning 3/19/22; Multicast: Unlimited Use/3 Years. Including 1 Year School Rerecord, Noncommercial Cable rights.

Mark Blaine

Executive Producer

MARK BLAINE is an award-winning writer, investigative reporter, and editor. His focus in the School of Journalism and Communication is on storytelling and new media, and his writing interests have recently focused on the evolution of sports and rules. Over the past five years, he has worked to develop wiki-, blog-, and content-management-based systems for basic reporting and information gathering courses.

Sven Haakanson

Executive Producer

SVEN HAAKANSON is an American anthropologist who specializes in documenting and preserving the language and culture of the Alutiiq. He served, from 2000-2013, as Executive Director of the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, Alaska.

Torsten Kjellstrand

Director of Photography

TORSTEN KJELLSTRAND is a Professor of Practice in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. While teaching, he continues a three-decade effort to tell stories that express the extraordinary in the everyday, often in communities ignored, stereotyped, or misrepresented.