The Bering Sea whale hunters and the East Coast filmmaker

This episode features Pete Chelkowski, one of the two directors of One with the Whale — a new documentary that features the story of Chris Apassingok, a Yup'ik whale hunter from St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. Apassingok was 16 when he caught a bowhead and was subsequently subjected to a campaign of attacks and death threats initiated by an animal rights activist.

One with the Whale is a rousing story, a celebration of Indigenous subsistence culture and a rural Alaska coming of age tale. It also raises some interesting questions about storytelling and narrative and ownership. Chelkowski speaks to that and a lot more in this interview.

You can watch One with the Whale for free on PBS, and this High Country News piece by Julia O'Malley also tells Apassingok's backstory.

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