Annabella Piugattuk was discovered by casting director Jared Valentine in the tiny town of Igloolik after spending two weeks in the Nunavut territory looking for the right person to play the role of Kanaalaq in the movie, The Snow Walker. He had auditioned over 100 Inuit women when he attended a teen dance and in walked Annabella. Six possible candidates were flown to Vancouver for a screen test and Annabella won the role. One of the producers said "Annabella is as un-Hollywood as an actress could be, and Hollywood is going to love her."