Nunavut Film workshop to foster filmmaking talent in Cambridge Bay

Aspiring filmmakers from western Nunavut will gather this week in Cambridge Bay, seen here last October. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

As part of its effort to develop the filmmaking industry in western Nunavut, the Nunavut Film Development Corporation plans to offer its first film workshop in Cambridge Bay from March 20 to March 26.

The workshop targets emerging filmmakers, Nunavut Film Corp.’s chief executive officer Derek Mazur told Nunatsiaq News on March 15.

That’s when his office made the final selection of applicants to be accepted to the program.

The small class of eight to 10 aspiring filmmakers from Cambridge Bay and other western Nunavut communities will take part in the workshop, and earn an honorarium when they finish the week.

Nunavut Film’s goal: to increase the base of filmmakers in that region of Nunavut.

“We need to develop a larger crew base,” Mazur said, pointing to a lack of cinematographers in Nunavut as an example.

“The only way we can do that is to increase production. In order to increase production, you’ve got to grow the industry. It’s a long, slow process.”

The industry has developed mostly in the Baffin region, with activity based in Iqaluit, Clyde River and Igloolik, Mazur said.

“So this is to raise our profile, but also to urge people to get more involved,” he said. “As Nunavut Film, we are not getting enough applications from western Nunavut.”

The workshop will cover all aspects of film production in a weeklong intensive series of sessions, starting with story-development.

A group of three filmmaking professionals will also teach directing, cinematography, sound recording, editing, “and a limited amount of post-production,” said Mazur.

“The group will make a mini-production, which will be edited with them.”

Workshop instructors include independent filmmaker, editor and cinematographer Marlene Millar, Daniel Cross of the award-winning EyeSteelFilm productions, and aboriginal cinematographer and editor Paul Rickard.