IQALUIT - Five young filmmakers from Aqsarniit Middle School could be following in Inuk producer and director Zacharias Kunuk's footsteps.

These young filmmakers from Aqsarniit Middle School in Iqaluit won gold and silver medals in the intermediate TV and video production category at the Skills Canada Nunavut Territorial Skills Competition at the end of April. From left in back are Taylor Isham (silver) and Ash Montague (gold). In front are Kesha Allurut (silver) and Pamela Akpalialuk (gold). Missing from the photo is Misterlee Cloutier-Ellsworth (gold). - Kassina Ryder/NNSL photo

At the fifth annual Territorial Skills Competition hosted by Skills Canada Nunavut at the end of April, filmmakers all in Grade 7 took home the gold and silver medals in the intermediate TV and video production category.

"I have never won a gold medal so it was very exciting," said Pamela Akpalialuk, who was on the gold medal team along with Ash Montague and Misterlee Cloutier-Ellsworth.

She and her teammates made a three-minute film about people who work in the skilled trades. Montague said they filmed different individuals fixing electronics including computers and televisions. Akpalialuk said she enjoyed directing the shoot saying "quiet on set," "action" and "roll film." Once the team had all their shots, he said they sat down at a computer to edit and piece the shots together.

Akpalialuk said she learned how to cut and edit shots using the computer. Montague and Cloutier-Ellsworth both had prior experience working with films.

"We have made a couple of horror films for fun in our spare time," he said.

Kesha Allurut and Taylor Isham won the silver medal. Allurut said working with Isham was fun and it helped that they had worked together on previous projects. In their short film on the same subject, they used a variety of camera shots including the cowboy shot (when you shoot a subject from the waist up), a wide shot and a close-up shot.

The pair went into the editing phase with a plan until they began to have technical difficulties.

"At one point, we almost lost our stuff; our computer froze and then we got it back," said Allurut.

Isham said he was mad, nervous and upset all at the same time but was relieved after the project came together in the remaining 30 minutes of the contest.

While the pair admits their film did not turn out as well as they anticipated, they acknowledged it is harder to make films than it appears.

All five students are members of the school's film club under the direction of teacher Mark Caine.

Since three of the students placed first in the category, ordinarily they would represent the territory at the Skills Canada national competition. But they are too young to attend as the contest's minimum age requirement is 14 and the students are only 12. Caine said while the students are disappointed, they proved they can compete against high school students.

"There is nowhere else we can go but up," he said, adding the students were well behaved and organized.