A film for everyone

Ajjiit’s workshop inspires surprising range of films

By NUNATSIAQ NEWS

JACKIE WALLACE

Women sewing slippers, soft drink consumption in Nunavut and how to make a harness: these subjects all made it to the big screen as part of Ajjiit Nunavut Media Association’s summer film workshop.

The workshop wasn’t long – it ran from August 3 to 9 at Nunavut Arctic College – but the participants produced nine short films, wrapping up with a screening of their work on Aug. 10.

“The participants were able to come out with a short film or documentary,” said Charlotte DeWolff, executive director of Ajjiit, Nunavut’s film association. “They had a wonderful array of material.”

The 20 workshop participants, brought from across the territory with money from Kakivak Association, spent the week learning the technical side of filmmaking with instruction in how to shoot with a camera and the finer points of lighting, sound and editing.

Everyone had the opportunity to make a five-minute short film or documentary by the end of the week, and, in the end, nine films were completed.

“They were almost surprised by what could be accomplished in five minutes,” DeWolff said.

Before starting out, the aspiring filmmakers had to decide what stories they wanted to tell and shoot for their short video film – and the results were diverse.

One probed the question of what and who an Inuk is in modern times, while another followed someone through their normal Friday in Iqaluit. Some were more news-oriented, reporting on the new hospital wing, while others leaned toward artistic expression with beautiful footage of wildlife set to music.

Joelie Sanguya, and his son Mathew of Clyde River, worked together to capture Joelie demonstrating traditional harness-making, during which he uses his own body parts to measure the pieces to make the harness.

“When I am out on the land, I don’t take any measuring tools. Since I have stopped growing, I have become a standard measure,” Joelie Sanguya explained.

Sanguya owns Piksuk, a company that makes documentary films in Clyde River. Although he had experience with a camera, he found the workshop very useful to help in coming up with better ideas and improving his editing, shooting and lighting skills.

“What I liked about this was that it was a father-son project, and I loved that,” he said.

Sanguya also sees the value in recording traditional knowledge to preserve it and share it with the younger generation: “I don’t just think it’s important to pass this knowledge down, I know it is.”

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, who works as part of Drumsongs Communications in Iqaluit, had been on shoots before and worked on some post-production editing, but the workshop was her first opportunity to hold a camera in her hands.

“I’ve always been interested in doing that and I have never had an opportunity to get behind the camera,” Arnaquq-Baril said. “It’s actually quite hard. It looks way easier than it actually is.”

Building video skills and enthusiasm is what DeWolff wanted the workshop to accomplish.

“We want to make sure that Nunavummiut are the ones who tell Nunavut’s stories and reap the economic benefits of the industry,” she said.

Although the workshop provided a basic introduction to filmmaking, DeWolff hopes that in the future there will be more resources and equipment available so that filmmakers around the territory will have the ability and instruction to be a part of the film industry.

Next year, DeWolff would like to extend the workshop to cover two weeks and have the space and the equipment for more participants.

“It was amazing to see how excited everyone was,” Arnaquq-Baril said. “Everyone was so hardcore about it and determined that they wanted to do this professionally.”

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