Iqalummiut star in gritty modern tale

Hunt. This is Mark’s first acting role, but he says he hopes it’s not his last. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)”/>
Johnny Mark, 16, a student at Inuksuk high school in Iqaluit, plays the role of 17-year-old Levi Brown in an upcoming short film called Hunt. This is Mark’s first acting role, but he says he hopes it’s not his last. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

A Toronto-Iqaluit film crew shoots a scene from the short film Hunt in Lower Iqaluit June 30. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Toronto-based filmmakers Jordan Tannahill and Sam Lebel-Wong are back to shoot their second short film in Iqaluit.

After the success of their 2009 film called Seeing Maggie Pootoogook, Tannahill and Lebel-Wong wrapped up the shoot of their second film, Hunt on July 3 — complete with local cast.

Hunt tells the story of single mother Elisapee Brown — played by actress Annabella Piugattauk of The Snow Walker fame — who spends the evening looking for her 17-year-old son, Levi, when he doesn’t come home for dinner.

“The story is universal; a mother’s love for her son,” said Tannahill, the film’s writer and director.

He calls the film a “contemporary Iqaluit story.”

“But here in Iqaluit, there’s a very specific socio-political climate that is not represented elsewhere,” he said. “We were interested in exploring how there can be a generational divide between parents and children.”

Tannahill and producer Sam Lebel-Wong accomplish that with a cast of local actors, including Piugattuk, Rosemary Kilpatrick and Johnny Mark in supporting roles.

Puigattuk, now the mother of two young children, says she brings her own motherhood into her Hunt character.

“I liked the script right away — the fact that there are so many single parents in Nunavut,” she said.

Towards the end of the film, Brown finds her son Levi drinking beer with friends around a bonfire in Apex.

She said the film highlights the fear many parents have about not providing their children with a strong foundation to make their own smart choices.

Mark, 16, was taking a drama program at Inuksuk high school last winter, when he heard about auditions for Hunt.

“Acting came naturally for me, at least that’s what my teacher said,” Mark said. “I did the rehearsal and they were all really happy.”

His character, a rebellious teen, was a role Mark said he had to grow into.

But Mark said that while it’s his first film, it’s hopefully not his last.

Other budding actors have used the experience as a platform into a possible acting career.

Daniel Verreault, the young Iqaluit actor who played the role of Julien in Tannahill’s last film Seeing Maggie Pootoogook, will begin studies at a Vancouver film school this fall.

In that sense, Tannahill considers the choice of Iqaluit as a shoot location a “learning experience” for both cast and crew.

It’s also the chance to participate in a budding film scene across Canada’s north.

“Northern filmmaking is some of the most exciting in Canada,” Tannahill said, pointing to Igloolik and other indigenous grassroots productions across the country.

“There are lots of budding animators, filmmakers and documentary makers here in Iqaluit.”

For more information about Hunt, visit www.goldshoreproductions.com.