Festival du nouveau cinma kicks off with Kim Nguyen's first English feature

It was years in the making, but at last,director Kim Nguyen gets to show off his latest film creation in his hometown of Montreal.

Two Lovers and a Bear,a tragic love story set in the Canadian Arctic by Oscar-nominated Nguyen, openedMontreal's 45th Festival du nouveau cinma Wednesday eveningat Place des Arts.

The movie already received a lot of praise inMaywhen it screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

"When you come back on your home turf, you're just as nervous as in Cannes. A little bit more nervous because you feel that it's your peers that are there," saysNguyen.

Daunting preparations

The story follows two people in love, Lucy (Tatiana Maslany) and Roman (Dane DeHaan), in a beautiful,yetbitterly cold, village in the Arctic.

Both characters are dealing with their own inner demonswhile trying to keep their relationship together. To escape their painful pasts, the lovers decide to fleeinto the wilderness of endless ice and snow.

Nguyen is best known for his criticallyacclaimed 2012 film Rebelle (War Witch), about a young girl in the Congo whois abducted by rebel forces and forced to become a child soldier.

Rebelle won more than two dozen international film awardsand was nominated for an Oscar in 2013 for best foreign language film.

If it took months to prepare to shoot a movie in Africa, the preparations involved in planning a movie shoot in the Arctic were much more daunting, saidNguyen.

Nunavut advisers 'there to basically save our lives'

Two Lovers and a Bear is one of only a handful of feature-length films to be shot in the harsh conditions ofIqaluit,the capital of Nunavut.

Nguyen says he was only able to do this film because he relied heavily on the local people as advisers.

"They already knew about the cold and how to deal with frostbite and getting on to complexlocations," he said."So they designed the vehicles, they adapted the snowmobiles to bring the gear."

"We were really grateful that they were there to basically save our lives."

Shooting in 40Cweather, where frostbite can happen within minutes, was quite a challenge.

Nguyen says it was a blessing in disguise because the actors did not have to pretend to be cold.

Too cold for polar bear

The movie also features a talking polar bear, which may or may not bea figment of Roman's imagination. The bearhad to be shipped from British Columbia toTimmins, Ont.

It was too costly to take the bearto the Arcticand, believe it or not, too cold.

Born in Sweden in 1995 and now living in captivity in Abbotsford, B.C.,Ageesimply wasn't acclimatized to a sub-zero winter.

"The weather got so cold inTimmins, that the only actress that didn't want to go out on set wasAgeeherself," saysNguyen."She was used to swimming in her own pool in British Columbia next to the sea."

"PoorAgee, she was a real diva."

Aurora borealis captured on film

Nguyen captures the wintry landscape in breathtaking shots, following Lucy and Roman as they fly by in their snowmobiles.

He also includes stunningfootage of the aurora borealis.

The director saysit was important for him to show howIqaluit is a mix of old and new, of which many people may not be aware.

"I felt compelled to capture this Arctic that's really idiosyncratic, that uses sealskin chaps with GPSand satellite antennasand very few igloos," saidNguyen.

"People have this romantic view of the Arctic outside of Canada. No, this is the cool Arctic that we have right now with all of itsparadoxes."

'Raw, authentic' actors

Tatiana Maslany is a Canadian actress who just won an Emmy for her role in the television series Orphan Black. American actor Dane DeHaan is best known for hisroles inThe Amazing Spider-Man 2 and inThe Place Beyond the Pines.

Nguyen says he needed actorswho could be raw and authentic.

"I put a lot of emphasis on first takes. Some things come out of first takes that are really unique and spontaneous and often the actors can't grab that essence in second takes," says Nguyen.

Two Lovers and a Bear is a tragic love story, an emotional drama and at times, an on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller.

It's also a beautifuldepiction of the Great White North.Two Lovers and a Bear hits theatre on Friday, Oct. 7.

The Festival du nouveau cinma runs from October 5 to 16.