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Lights, camera, action! in Pangnirtung Toronto Film School student wants youth involved in short films
Myles Dolphin
Northern News Services
Published Friday, July 26, 2013
PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG
Roselynn Akulukjuk wants to make the most of her time at home by getting local youth to take part in a series of short films she is organizing.
Toronto Film School student Roselynn Akulukjuk of Pangnirtung wants to get local youth involved in film production while she's home. - photo courtesy of Roselynn Akulukjuk
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The Toronto Film School student and Pangnirtung native is visiting her community for an undetermined period of time after recently encountering funding obstacles with the Kakivak Association.
Because she can't go back to Toronto just yet, she said she wants to engage Pangnirtung youth and give them something to do.
"Since I heard a lot of people say they were bored I wanted to help change that," she said.
"I thought, since I'm in film school, I might as well do what I've always wanted to do. They can help me set up cameras or be actors in the short films. As long as it prevents them from being bored."
Akulukjuk caught the film bug five years ago when members of The Inuusivut Project came to Pangnirtung for a workshop.
They spent time with young film enthusiasts, showing them how to use multimedia equipment.
They also shot a variety of short films around the hamlet and that's how Akulukjuk fell in love with the craft.
She began looking into various film schools around the country and finally settled on the Toronto Film School. She began her studies last year and completed her third term before the summer.
Unfortunately, her funding issues have caused her to miss the first two weeks of the fourth term, the equivalent of 25 per cent of classes.
Editing is the cinematographic aspect she enjoys the most, and she wants to encourage Pangnirtung youth to get excited about the movie industry.
A few weeks ago she went around the hamlet, telling people she was preparing to shoot a short film at the local church.
"I told people, 'Hey, if you don't have anything to do, come by the church' because a lot of youth go there every week," she said.
"I told them I wasn't going to use it for anything, just as an example of what the community could do if it got together. But then I waited at the church for an hour and no one showed up."
Despite the initial disappointment, Akulukjuk is determined to try the experiment again.
Her funding could come through at any moment, though, which means she'd like to shoot the short films sooner rather than later.
These days, she's gathering ideas from people around town and she's hoping that a series of two-minute films will encourage other residents to help make a longer one.
"Once I'm done I can show people what we've accomplished and say 'Look, you could be doing this too'," she said.
The 24-year-old dreams of working in the movie industry for a little while before returning to Pangnirtung, eventually, to start her own production company.
"That way youth will have something to do and hopefully that would prevent them from getting into trouble," she said.
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