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NUNAVUT - A historical drama about an Inuit man who finds hope in a southern sanatorium by sharing his language and culture is nominated for eight Genie Awards this year.

Set in 1950s Montreal, The Necessities of Life uses the Canadian government's response to the Northern tuberculosis epidemic of the 1940s and 1950s to explore the theme of alienation and identity.

Natar Ungalaaq appears in a scene from The Necessities of Life. Ungalaaq was nominated for a Genie in the Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role category. - photo courtesy of Seville Pictures

In the middle of last century, the Canadian icebreaker and hospital ship CD Howe collected Inuit from remote communities afflicted with the disease and brought them to institutions in Montreal and other southern cities. Many of the patients remained far from home for years. Others never returned.

Nunavut actor Natar Ungalaaq, who also starred in the Isuma Productions 2001 feature Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner among other films, stars as one of the Inuit hunters transported to the south for treatment.

The role earned Ungalaaq one of the film's eight Genie nominations.

"(Ungalaaq) really touches the heart of the viewers," said the film's director, Benoit Pilon, describing the actor's performance as "authentic".

The film debuted in Iqaluit last year. Pilon accompanied the film to screenings across southern Canada, California, Belgium, France and other countries.

Pilon said many audiences are shocked to learn about this chapter in Canada's Arctic history.

"They didn't know anything about that just like I didn't know anything until I read the script, either," he said. "I think most of what happens to the aboriginal people we're not taught in school, and we don't grow up knowing a lot about the First Nations people, and the Inuit, maybe even less because they're so far away."

The film stretches beyond a black-and-white treatment of the forced migration of Inuit, as nurses in the sanatorium show compassion and care for Ungalaaq's character, Tivii. A character played by Quebec actor Eveline Gelinas, who is also nominated for a Genie, brings a young Inuit boy to Tivii's bedside to ease his suffering and allow him to speak Inuktitut and share his cultural knowledge.

"It shows what happens when human beings are confronted by a sad reality and they're put together in a room," Pilon said. "What shows up are the differences but the months pass and the years pass and they tend to help each other.

After a while they see the resemblances between them. In a world that has a lot of immigration and a lot of diversity, this kind of theme can touch a lot of people in our society today. You know, the feeling of isolation, being around people who don't understand you, being sick and the importance of somehow being able to communicate and be recognized for who you really are."

Pilon, who is nominated for a Genie for Achievement in Direction, plans to attend the April awards ceremony in Ottawa. He said funding is being sought to help Ungalaaq make the trip along with the rest of the cast.

In the meantime, Pilon is thinking about embarking on a new film project set in the North.

"I have an idea but I really have to work on it," he said. "I think Iqaluit is a really exciting and strange and interesting city to set a contemporary film in. It's a place that we haven't seen on film very much and I'd like to think about a story that could happen there."