Winnipeg's Little Drummer Boy bangs his drum once again

Ethan Langit dreams of musical greatness.

The 18-year-old Sisler student dreams of success like the kind Sean Quigley experienced in 2011.

"I see Sean the way I want somebody to see me in 10 years," Langit said. "In a lot of ways, he and I are similar. We're both musicians who do it for the love of music and to help people."

On Dec. 1, 2011, drummer Quigley, then 16, posted his own music video ofLittle Drummer Boy. It was a thrashing version filmed in Winnipeg, complete with Quigley wearing redmaple leaf mitts.

Within hours, he had thousands of views and many missed calls on his cellphone. He became a media sensation.

"Iwouldn't be here if it wasn't for that video. It was fun; it was like aroller coaster ride. You're excited that something you made, people care about," said Quigley, who now owns a production company in Winnipeg.

Langitwanted to meet Quigley and dig deeper into the story behind his viral video, which today has more than four million views.

So Langit, a student filmmaker,produced a new video with Quigley, which also includes an impromptu jam session.

The video is the work of Langit and two of his classmates in theCreate programat Sisler High School in Winnipeg. The post-high program trains students in the creative digital arts, including filmmaking.

Create studentsTristin Legaspi, 18, and Van Cung Nung, 19,also produced the story, in whichSean Quigleylooks back at viral fame.

The short documentary was produced as part of CBC Manitoba's Project POV: Sisler Create, an ongoing video storytelling collaboration.

Meet the filmmakers

Ethan Langit is a filmmaker and a self-taught musician, specializing in storytelling, editing and sound design. He uses his technical knowledge of music production to make his films sound theatre ready. He loves working collaboratively with other people and thrives in the company of other creatives.

Tristan Legaspi got into filmmaking in Grade 9 and has stuck with it ever since. Filmmaking is a core part of hislife. He finds every facet of production meaningful and engaging. In particular, Tristan loves editing for hours and shooting all sorts of angles. Outside of film, Tristan enjoys going to the gym, watching all kinds of media and taking a nice nap.

Van Cung Nung loves filmmaking and multimedia arts. He is into camera operation, video editing, motion graphics and graphic design. Proficient in software like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effectsand DaVinci Resolve, his goal is to create captivating visual content in the film and media industry.

More about Project POV: Sisler Create

CBC Manitoba's Project POV: SislerCreate is a storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBCManitoba journalists to produce short docs. The collaboration is in its second year. Past projects can be foundhere.

During fall 2023, CBC journalists taught storytelling to filmmaking studentsand led producing workshops over several weeks at theCreate program at Sisler High School.

The post-high school programfocuseson education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.