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Poster for How to Build an Igloo
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Released
1949 · FILM

How to Build an Igloo

Runtime
11 min
Documentary

Synopsis

This classic short film demonstrates the process of building an igloo using only snow and a knife. Two Inuit men in Canada’s Far North select a site, cut and position snow blocks, and construct an entrance, completing the shelter in one-and-a-half hours. The film’s commentary explains that the interior warmth and the wind outside help to solidify the snow blocks together. As the short winter day turns to darkness, the two builders bring in their caribou sleeping robes and extra skins, confident in spending a comfortable night amid the Arctic cold.

Credits

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 3

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Neil Harris

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