A local educator is bringing Hollywood to Hay River with a unique afterschool program that fuses film with fun – and learning.
Finno Celestin, a teaching assistant at Ecole Boreale, hosts a movie-making club every Wednesday at Princess Alexandra Middle School – offering tweenage thespians and would-be Scorseses and Streeps an up-close and behind the scenes filmmaking experience.
"It all started in my first year here, two years ago. We were playing chess after school and one of the kids mentioned we didn't have a chess club," said Celestin.
That got Celestin, who previously taught in Montreal, thinking.
"I thought there's other things I like to do so why not do those things with the kids? Then I thought about making a movie."
From there, it was lights, iPhone camera, and action.
Celestin, who doesn't think of himself as a filmmaker, but rather a film fanatic, said he relies on low-budget tools – like his cell phone camera – and a dozen enthusiastic students to bring everything together.
In the fall, participating students were divided into two rotating groups – with members of each collective trying their hand at script and screenwriting, character development, directing and acting at various times throughout the school year.
In weekly, hour-long sessions filled with giggles and playful dramatics, the club works towards its ultimate goal – completing their movie in time for a public screening.
Last year's collective, with the help of Hay River's Parent Action Committee, presented their project on the big screen at the Riverview Cinema.
Celestin plays double duty, operating the camera and, later, editing the footage on his computer.
But Celestin takes little credit for the final product.
"It's really their movie," he said.
That includes participants like Grade 8 student Mason Wallington.
"It's really fun and I get to meet and have fun with people," the movie buff said.
"And when you go to the theatre, it's really cool to see yourself up there," added Wallington.
But as Celestin pointed out to the Hub, there's an educational value to the extracurricular activity.
"What I've learned from being in the education system for about five years now is that, in the end, we always learn in every single experience we have," he said.
Celestin said the experience goes beyond learning the tricks of the trade.
"Everything else – making a story. It helps you for English when you go to write stories. You need to have a beginning, you need to have a problem, actions, solutions and an end," said Celestin.
"So that translates to communication skills and being able to have self confidence to speak in front of the camera."
In offering the program to students at Princess Alexandra and Ecole Boreale alike, Celestin said the club also helps to break language and cultural barriers between school-goers.
As for what drives the man behind the camera, the classroom director said it all comes back to the kids.
"I just knew right away this is my place," he said.
Celestin's place behind the camera is appreciated.
"I'm really thankful that Finno has done stuff like this in Hay River," said Mason Wallington.
The movie-maker club aims to screen this year's offering – a comical take on a group of students locked in a school – on the big screen again.
But for Celestin, a big screen debut isn't the primary movie-making motivator.
"The most important thing is that they mention the three-letter magic word – fun."