The Silver Wave

Directed by Michelle Williams Gamaker

Ada Blackjack, an Iñupiat woman, was the only surviving member of an expedition to Wrangel Island in the Arctic in 1921. Ada was employed as a seamstress and cook for four explorers, who hoped to claim the island for the British Empire. However, the four men fell ill and eventually died or disappeared while attempting to seek help, leaving Ada to survive alone on the island for three long months. The words you hear in the film are unedited extracts from Ada’s diary, expressing her concern for her young son Bennett, who she reluctantly left behind in a care home.