Iqaluit

Iqaluit is a 2016 Canadian drama film directed and written by Benoît Pilon and starring Marie-Josée Croze, François Papineau and Natar Ungalaaq. The film was shot in Iqaluit, Nunavut, which provided its title. It is about a Quebec woman (Croze) who travels to Northern Canada after her husband (Papineau) is seriously injured. She uncovers the secret relationships he had with the Inuit community, and becomes acquainted with an Inuit man (Ungalaaq) struggling with a related family crisis. Pilon conceived of the story and planned the execution for years, though the travel and shooting conditions provided challenges. The film screened in a few film festivals before a general release. Iqaluit received some positive coverage in the Quebec press and favorable reactions from Nunavut viewers. Plot Gilles is a French Canadian working in Nunavut while his wife, Carmen, lives in Montreal and leads a career in marketing. Word reaches Carmen that Gilles has suffered a head injury, and she travels north for the first time to see him. She has never been to the north to visit Gilles at work. At the hospital, she sees him die, and the authorities plan an autopsy since the cause of death is uncertain. Carmen meets with the RCMP and learns that they are not actively investigating Gilles' death. Although she was planning to leave Iqaluit with her husband's body she changes her mind and decides to stay. Carmen meets an Inuit man, Noah, who worked with Gilles and regarded him as a good friend. While packing her husband's belongings she finds that Gilles had accumulated a collection of carvings. Carmen notices Noah's 20-year-old niece Ani, and his grown son Dany, and discovers Gilles had an affair with Ani. They had a son, Simigaq, though Carmen and Gilles never had any children. The affair ended after the birth of the child, with Gilles offering financial support and buying Noah's carvings to help the family. Carmen confides in Noah at the local bar, with Noah explaining he adopted Ani to rescue her from her abusive father. Carmen expresses her sorrow and anger at Gilles, after which Noah takes her to a remote fishing site. There, he sets up a tent and fishes, but admits he has little knowledge of Inuit hunting customs, as he was placed in a residential school as a boy. Noah's family arrive at the site in a state of panic, telling him Dany has abducted Ani and Simigaq, and gone into the wilderness, armed with a rifle.