Alaska Film Archives

North of the Arctic Circle: Human Values and the Land
North of the Arctic Circle: Human Values and the Land
AAF-13935 is a program about changes in the communities of Point Hope, Kaktovik, Arctic Village and Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska, due to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Filmed and written by Billie and Sam Wright. Film made possible by the Alaska Humanities Forum and the Tasseraluk Institute of Brooks Range, Alaska., In 1968, Samuel A. and Billie Wright moved to Alaska’s Brooks Range, where they built a cabin they named “Koviashuvik” at the edge of Bob Johnson Lake north of Bettles. That same year, they founded the non-profit Tasseraluk Institute, headquartered in the Brooks Range, for “educational, religious, scientific and literary research and development in social and human values.” The Wrights made films about wilderness life, continued Robert Marshall’s research on northern white spruce migration, published a journal titled “View from the Top of the World,” authored several books, and produced a report and documentary film titled “North of the Arctic Circle: Human Values and the Land.” Both were ordained Unitarian Universalist clergy, and Sam was a minister for congregations throughout the United States, including Anchorage, Alaska, from 1970 to 1974.