Profile: Benjamin McGregor
Photo courtesy of Benjamin McGregor
To say that the last couple of years have been busy for Inuit Futures Ilinniaqtuk Benjamin McGregor would be a huge understatement. Born in Inuvik and raised in Sǫ̀mbak'è (Yellowknife, NWT), Benjamin is a director, screenwriter, and graduate of Capilano University’s Motion Picture Arts Program in North Vancouver, BC. As a high school student, Benjamin excelled in math and science classes, and he thought he would pursue higher education to become an engineer. But this was quickly replaced by Benjamin’s passion for film and directing which, interestingly enough, first came to fruition through his love of skateboarding. With other members of his community and friends, Benjamin used a gravel pit by the local airport to skateboard. When he began to film him and his friends skateboarding and edited the resulting videos, he was surprised at how much he enjoyed the filming process. Looking back at this time in his life, Benjamin says,
“That passion led into this one [film] pretty naturally and that taught me that the things that you are passionate about, or the things that you wanna do, might not be the thing that you’re gonna do for the rest of your life, but they’re gonna lead to other things”.
Along with his passion for skateboarding, Benjamin credits his experience competing in film competitions and participating in film programs as enabling him to envision a career in the film industry. In grade twelve, Benjamin and a friend competed in a territorial film competition for Skills Canada Film and TV production; they won and went on to compete in a national competition pitching promotional videos for Skills Canada. Benjamin remembers feeling slightly incompetent as compared to students coming from bigger cities with bigger film scenes, but when one of his promotional videos scored on the high end, he realized that he was just as skilled as the other students,
“I think that’s one of the challenges of being from a place that doesn’t have much of a comprehensive media instruction or industry. I feel like people here who do stuff like this that’s maybe considered more niche here, we’re not reminded that our skills are the same as people down South. When we see it in action, we realize we do know what we’re doing”.
This experience led him to consider university film programs, like the one at Capilano University. Successful in his application, Benjamin began his undergraduate degree and never looked back.
Benjamin McGregor, Don't Worry, Don't Watch, (2018-2019). Stills from Short Film. images courtesy of McGregor.
When Benjamin first began his degree, he almost felt intimidated by the somewhat competitive program and the well-established film scene in Vancouver, BC. However, many enjoyed his first video project and, in his second year, Benjamin directed a film about addiction, called Don't Worry Don't Watch (2018-2019), that resonated with him on a more personal level. It was shown at various festivals, including the Reel Recovery Film Festival in Los Angeles, California and the Yellowknife International Film Festival. Benjamin considers this film to be a milestone for him. It demonstrated that film could be personal and, since then, he has been passionate about directing and screenwriting. In the past years, Benjamin has worked with Inuit Futures mentor Davis Heslep at Western Arctic Moving Pictures (WAMP) through an Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership funded position. He first began working in WAMP’s film equipment rental room during the summer after his first year of university. During the summer after his third year of university, Benjamin switched to producing instructional videos showing how to use film equipment and he mentored new filmmakers preparing for their projects, applying many of the skills that he was learning at school. At the same time, Benjamin won a competition to direct a music video for musician Craig Cardiff’s song Yellowknife, produced in collaboration with WAMP, True North Records, and NWT Films. In the same summer, Benjamin received funding from NWT Arts to write and direct a short film. After a very busy undergraduate degree, Benjamin finally moved back to Yellowknife in the summer of 2021, and he took on another position with WAMP working in an administrative and technical coordinator role for the 4th Annual Symposium on the Future Imaginary. Through this position, he helped to organize the conference, edited panel discussion videos, and interviewed the panelists to create introduction videos for the symposium website.
Benjamin is looking forward to continuing his work in film:
“Because of the film industry here, it’s a lot more of a community and it’s budding. It’s very small in relation to the rest of Canada, but it’s such an interesting place with so many interesting people and the scenery is amazing. There’s so much potential here”.
He is incredibly grateful to Inuit Futures for helping him see how he can use his film-related interests to imagine how his community can be part of his work. Through Inuit Futures, what he calls a “fantastic organization”, he has been able to find work that has kept him in his field, and he can continue to imagine how his small, but mighty, community can be showcased to the rest of the world.
Craig Cardiff, Yellowknife, 2021. Stills from Music Video. Directed by Benjamin McGregor. Images courtesy of McGregor.
Craig Cardiff, Yellowknife, 2021. Stills from Music Video. Directed by Benjamin McGregor. Images courtesy of McGregor.