Nunavik’s Paulusie Kasudluak was a teenager with big dreams, balancing traditional Inuit knowledge with modern life — until one bad choice changed everything and sent his life spiralling out of control.
That’s the premise of Sébastien Rist and Aude Leroux-Lévesque’s full-length documentary Living with Giants, which just premiered at the Hot Docs international documentary film festival in Toronto.

The film watches as 18-year-old Kasudluak invites Rist and Leroux-Lévesque to his hometown of Inukjuak, Nunavik, in Northern Quebec to document his life.

The filmmakers initially head out to produce a lyrical film about the young man’s connection to his culture and land.

"He was going to show us a side of Inuit culture that we’ve never saw before," said Rist.

"We were hoping to avoid all stereotypes that we hear about in the South about the North : violence, alcohol, suicide," said Leroux-Lévesque.

But despite their intentions Rist and Leroux-Lévesque encountered a different story.

"We want people to see this movie and get attached emotionally to the characters, so we as southerners stop seeing people as statistics or numbers."