Got five minutes? You could spend it meeting a local hero thanks to some intrepid young filmmakers and a summer camp run by Theatre Wakefield.

This July, Savanna Oliver, a professional photographer and filmmaker who lives near Danford Lake, led a filmmaking camp for kids aged 12 to 18. The week-long camp gave teens the chance to use professional equipment – Oliver’s own – to produce short documentaries. It was the “brainchild” of Theatre Wakefield chair Catherine Edwards, according to Oliver.

Five students signed up for what Oliver called a “super jam-packed” week of hands-on learning about documentary filmmaking. Each student directed their own film while working as a team to develop ideas, interview subjects, film, record sound, edit and produce their documentaries about a local hero.

The result is a series of polished, engaging short films, available on YouTube.

Thirteen-year-old Maude Law, who lives in Rupert, directed ‘Wakefield Whiskers’, a heartwarming tribute to Titan, the beloved Wakefield village cat.

Law told the Low Down that, with just a few days to make her film, she “had to go on a wild goose chase around the village finding people who know Titan that we could interview.”

She also needed to track down Titan himself – not necessarily an easy feat, as anyone who knows this transient feline can attest.

After filming, Law said she learned the most from working with Oliver to edit the footage.

“She taught us that sometimes it’s necessary to ‘kill your children,’” Law explained, laughing. “She meant: You can’t get too attached to certain things; you have to be kind of [ruthless] when you’re editing.”

The advice was solid: ‘Wakefield Whiskers’ is perfectly paced storytelling, set to a suitably whimsical soundtrack.

And it’s in good company. The other mini-docs feature a range of fascinating and inspiring locals.

Noam Tremblay’s ‘Beaver Saver’ spotlights Eco Odyssey owner Michel Leclerc and his vision for the property near Edelweiss. It features breathtaking drone footage of the beaver-built aquatic labyrinth.

‘In the Studio’ by Avery Scott-Williams is a pensive portrait of multidisciplinary artist Emily Rose Michaud, with dreamy B-roll footage from her studio.

‘Brave Ben’ by Skylar Collins is a sweet homage to Collins’ martial arts teacher, Ben Mallory, highlighting his lifesaving work as a firefighter.

And Xavier Singh’s profile of Steve Fleury, titled ‘Choking Hazard’, tells a deeply personal story. Fleury, a teacher, saved Singh from choking on a piece of beef jerky during a school outing. A mildly humorous interview with the no-nonsense Fleury is interspersed with gorgeous shots of his farm.

“I was just so proud of all of them,” Oliver told the Low Down. “At the start of the week, I was worried about their attention spans, but honestly they were all on board, and there was no messing around. All of [the students] are creatives, and they were super passionate, which was the key,” she explained.

On the final day of the filmmaking camp, Oliver staged a kind of premiere for the students’ films. Parents and friends gathered at the Wakefield Mill to enjoy the documentaries, and Oliver drove the kids to the mill in her custom car so they could have a red-carpet-esque moment.

“The parents were really impressed and proud,” Oliver said.

She called the week “a success,” and said she would love to run the camp again next year.

She already has at least one future filmmaker keen to join her.

“I would definitely do [the camp] again, and I would absolutely recommend it to others,” Law said. “I signed up for the experience. It’s just a bonus that now there’s a documentary that I made.”

Find the mini-docs on Theatre Wakefield’s YouTube channel. A link to the channel can also be found on the Theatre Wakefield website.