Uksuum Cauyai: The Drums of Winter plot
An ethnographic documentary about the culture of the Yup'ik (or Yupik), a significant minority of the Eskimo population living in Alaska and the northeastern Russian Far East. The focus is mainly on music, dance and the potlatch tradition of the Emmonak on the coast of the Bering Sea. A potlatch is a gathering of different tribes where slaves are clubbed to death, large quantities of food are consumed, but sometimes destroyed, and other precious gifts are given, which are sometimes destroyed. The Yup'ik themselves were allowed to determine how the content and presentation would be presented. For example, instead of the usual voice-over, one-on-one conversations with the Yup'ik were used.