The Lesser Blessed tells universal story of alienation

The Lesser Blessed,a story of teenage angst and seclusion told from the perspective of one young First Nations man, was the closing gala at theImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

The film combines a universal storyabout feeling like an outsider with the uniquetale of a young man who has to overcome much hardship in his young life.

Based on the novel of the same name by Dene author Richard Van Camp, the story is set in the Northwest Territories and follows a Tlicho teenager, Larry Sole, through some of his high school experiences.

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Lisa Charleyboy is Tsilhqotin from the interior of British Columbia. Currently living in Toronto, she's a freelance writer who has written for Indian Country Today, THIS Magazine, and MSN Canada. Sharply savvy in the ways of social media, her blog Urban Native Girl presents pop culture with an indigenous twist. Follow her ImagineNATIVE Festival coverage on CBCNews.ca/arts.

The Lesser Blessed is written and directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Anita Doron and has a mostly Canadian cast including Chloe Rose (Degrassi), Kiowa Gordon (The Twilight Saga), Benjamin Bratt, Tamara Podemski as Verna Sole and Joel Evans as Larry Sole.

The film was shot in Sudbury, in part because of thelack of government incentivesfor movie-making in the Northwest Territories. But it still manages to cinematically capture the feelings of social, cultural and geographical isolation of the original novel.

"I feel like Anita totally captured thatwhat its like to be in the middle of nowhere, so far away from everybodythat its both in a geographic sense and in the social sense of being an outsider," says Tamara Podemski who plays Larry Sole's mother.

"He was a boy who couldnt be more different. But hes not so different because hes Indian, hes different because hes traumatized, and thats the beautiful part about the story."

Podemski has had to face her own challenges as a native actor.

"Ive never only been put out for native roles, but I only get cast in native roles. I cant say that its been a bad thing," she says.

"Ive often been told Its so interesting that you have only done native roles, or have chosen to do native roles. And they dont understand that its not a choice. We (native actors) are told where we can be seen, how we can be seen, and who we can be seen with on the screen."

"It takes courageous producers filmmakers, writers, to fight for their stories to be told," says Podemski.

It seemed to be a great feat to get this indie film made taking seven years from the time it was a figment of the imagination ofdirector andscreenwriter Doron. Van Camp, the novels author, worked with Doronfrom the beginning, even opening up his home to her so she could capture the feel of the N.W.T.

The Lesser Blessed is most certainly a First Nations story about a young mans struggle for identity and healing, but its also a story that is universally felt. And that is what makes this film beautiful, that we can all relate no matter what colour of skin we have.