Review:
“Twice Colonized” – Lin Alluna (Canada)
Jackson Doc Fest – 2023 Social Justice Feature Winner
Directed by: Lin Alluna
In Twice Colonized, director Lin Alluna delivers a documentary that is as politically urgent as it is emotionally intimate. This is not merely a film about colonial history — it is a deeply human portrait of resistance, grief, and self-determination.
The film follows Inuit lawyer and activist Aaju Peter as she confronts the layered reality of Greenland’s colonization — first under Denmark and then through modern political and legal systems that continue to limit Indigenous sovereignty. Yet Alluna avoids framing the story as a distant geopolitical debate. Instead, she grounds it in lived experience.
At its heart, Twice Colonized is about personal transformation. Aaju’s activism is shaped by profound loss — the tragic death of her son — and the film carefully observes how grief evolves into purpose. Her fight for Inuit rights is not abstract; it is rooted in family, language, identity, and survival. Through quiet, patient filmmaking, Alluna allows vulnerability to coexist with fierce advocacy.
Visually, the Arctic landscape becomes a silent witness to history. Sweeping expanses of ice and sea reflect both endurance and isolation. The cinematography is restrained yet powerful, emphasizing space, silence, and resilience. The result is a film that feels expansive without losing emotional intimacy.
What distinguishes Twice Colonized from many social justice documentaries is its refusal to oversimplify. It does not offer easy answers or dramatic confrontations for effect. Instead, it poses essential questions about sovereignty, dignity, and how legal systems often fail the very communities they claim to protect.
The film’s impact has been recognized internationally. It won the Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary at the Canadian Screen Awards (2024), received the Camera Justitia Award at the Movies That Matter Festival (2023), and earned the Fighting Spirit Award and a Special Mention at Doc Edge Festival (2023). It also received the Grand Jury Prize at the Gimli Film Festival and was awarded Best Documentary at the Nuuk International Film Festival. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and opened CPH:DOX and Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, solidifying its place within the global documentary landscape.
About the Director:
Lin Alluna is a Danish documentary filmmaker widely recognized for her character-driven storytelling that explores social issues through a distinctly female lens. Her work is marked by a thoughtful blend of realism and subtle magical realism, allowing her to examine themes of identity, truth, cultural displacement, and empowerment with both poetic sensitivity and political clarity.
With Twice Colonized, Alluna brings her signature style to a story of Indigenous resistance and personal resilience, crafting a film that is both visually contemplative and emotionally grounded. Her approach prioritizes intimacy over spectacle, creating space for her subjects to define their own narratives rather than be defined by history.
As the 2023 Social Justice Feature winner at Jackson Doc Fest, Twice Colonized stands as a testament to cinema’s power to illuminate overlooked histories and amplify voices too often unheard. It is thoughtful, restrained, and profoundly moving — a film that challenges audiences not only to witness injustice, but to reconsider the structures that sustain it.
In the end, Twice Colonized reminds us that colonization is not simply a chapter in history books. It is a living condition — and resistance, like healing, begins with reclaiming one’s voice.
