Also Directed by Benoît Pilon
Travelling to the Arctic for the first time, Carmen arrives in Iqaluit to tend to her husband, Gilles, a construction worker who has been seriously injured. Trying to get to the bottom of what happened, she strikes up a friendship with Noah, Gilles' Inuk friend, and realizes they share a similar story. Together, Carmen and Noah head out on the Frobisher Bay - she, looking for answers to her questions; he, trying to stop his son from committing what can't be undone.
In 1952, an Inuit hunter named Tivii with tuberculosis leaves his northern home and family to go recuperate at a sanatorium in Quebec City. Uprooted, far from his loved ones, unable to speak French and faced with a completely alien world, he becomes despondent. When he refuses to eat and expresses a wish to die, his nurse, Carole, comes to the realization that Tivii's illness is not the most serious threat to his well-being. She arranges to have a young orphan, Kaki, transferred to the institution. The boy is also sick, but has experience with both worlds and speaks both languages. By sharing his culture with Kaki and opening it up to others, Tivii rediscovers his pride and energy. Ultimately he also rediscovers hope through a plan to adopt Kaki, bring him home and make him part of his family
Thanks to his wife Madeleine, a social worker who saved him from the street when he was 17-years-old, Pierre Dalpé has become a prosperous entrepreneur, running a garbage-collection business in the Montreal area. His quiet happiness with his wife and their children changes when he crosses paths with Eve, a teenage drug addict/prostitute who belongs to a street gang. At the risk of destroying everything he’s built up, Pierre decides to make it his mission to help Eve get out of her unhealthy situation before she dies of an overdose, like his sister did. But in doing so, he has to confront his old demons, to Madeleine’s despair, as she feels him slipping farther away from her every day.
Benoit Pilon introduces us to those who live in the vast region more than a thousand kilometers northwest of Montreal, where, in the early 1970s, the massive James Bay project forever changed the landscape and people's lives. To carry out this mega-project, one village was created (Radisson) and another moved (Fort George, now known as Chisasibi). Though most of the workers have since gone home, some chose to stay. Radisson's inhabitants are still often tempted to move back down South, but many have developed imaginative ways of putting down roots. And while the Crees of Chisasibi look to the future, they also want to maintain their traditions, especially for the younger generation who are so attracted to the ease of modern life. But what with the hunting trips, going-away parties and still-vibrant customs, the residents of these two communities simply enjoy the Northern way of life.
The movie depicts the portrait of Louis-Joseph Hébert, alias Nestor, an orphan of the Duplessis' era. With his undeniable charisma and his words full of imagery, Nestor fascinates with his allure of an old eccentric biker. But above all, the love of life and people and his instinct of survival complete his portrait.
