THE REINDEER QUEEN profiles "Sinrock Mary" Antisarlook - also known by her fellow Eskimos as "Queen Mary" - the Arctic's wealthiest woman during the Alaska Gold Rush. Sinrock Mary's life mirrors the turbulent times in turn-of-the-century Alaska during the rush to mine the territory's gold. The daughter of a Russian merchant father and a native Alaskan mother, Mary, through twists of fate, amassed the largest reindeer herd in the North. As her reputation and riches grew, ne'er-do-wells and drifters conspired to gain control of her herd, but she outwitted them all. This unusual documentary, the recipient of awards from the National Educational Film and Video Festival and New York's Margaret Mead Film Festival, brings Mary's remarkable story to life through archival photographs, film footage and interviews with her granddaughters.
