By Nicole Fitzgerald
What stories are they going to tell when Whistler is inundated with journalists in 2010?
The Whistler Film Festival Society is making sure local stories get out there with the Whistler Stories Short Film Commission Competition, thrusting four more local tales into the Olympic spotlight come 2010.
“Following the success of last year’s competition, we had a great response from the Whistler area and beyond,” said Bill Evans, festival director of programming. “Whistler is full of wonderful stories and we are excited to help these filmmakers share their vision of our community.”
The four filmmakers championing the cause this year include Lenny Rubenovitch of Whistler, Lisa Fernandez of Pemberton, and Graem Luis and Armen Evrensel of Vancouver.
The Whistler legacy program commissions four filmmaking teams a year to create five-minute short films based on stories in the Whistler area up until the 2010 Games. Each year the new films are premiered at the Whistler Film Festival with all films tying together for a massive screening at 2010.
Rubenovitch will produce a film called First To Go Up… On Snowboards , which will examine the first snowboarders who christened the sport on Whistler Mountain.
Fernandez will produce Extreme Seniors , challenging the “old” person stereotype by riding along with Whistler’s most extreme and inspirational seniors.
Luis looks at Myrtle Philip’s first historic journey to Whistler and how that journey paved the way to the 2010 Games in Journey To The Rainbow .
Evrensel spins the artist’s way in Vincent Massey and The Pots , creating a visual journey from clay to kiln while listening to amusing anecdotes on Whistler by one of its pillar artists.
Teams will shoot through summer and spring with their films premiering at the festival between Nov. 29 and Dec. 2 in Whistler.
For more information, visit whistlerfilmfestival.com.
