Jason Unrau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (May 25/05) - With their studio under renovation, staff of the Inuvialuit Communications Society (ICS) have temporarily relocated to space across town.

"We're working out of Ingamo Hall right now," said ICS executive director Topsy Cockney. "They provided us with a good lease and we needed the space, as our place was in dire need of renovations."

The studio is a hub of constant activity, what with production of two Aboriginal Peoples Television Network programs and Inuvialuit newspaper Tusaayaksat all under one roof.

"Our previous season finished at the end of March and from there we rolled into producing the next season of shows," said operations manager and producer Dennis Allen, who has been working out of Ingamo Hall since the beginning of April. "But we're a little tight for space."

Allen added that he expects they will be back in their newly-refurbished studio off Mackenzie Road by July 15. Until then, "there's lots of shooting and lots of pre-production to be done."

"But we're on schedule," he said.

Since 1985, ICS has been producing Tamapta - 'all our people' - in Inuvialuktun, a program dedicated to profiling elders and covering traditional activities. The show is now in its fifth season on APTN and ICS is responsible for creating 26 30-minute episodes each year.

Focusing on current affairs, ICS' other series Suaangan - 'to have strength' - is also a 26-episode-per-year endeavour in its fifth season on APTN.

'My Father, My Teacher'

In other local film and television news, Allen's much-anticipated documentary film My Father, My Teacher - about his father Victor Allen and their relationship through changing times - is currently in its final stages of production in Vancouver.

Back in February of this year, a National Film Board crew was in town to collect additional footage to complete the project.

"The documentary will probably be finished by the second week of June," said the younger Allen, who hopes to premier the show at the Great Northern Arts Festival.