What: Community Now: Made in
Whistler screening
When: Thursday, Feb. 21, 7
p.m.
Where: MY Millennium Place
Admission: Free
A new documentary gets into
the minds of kids growing up in Whistler.
Community Now: Made in
Whistler cozies up with nine outstanding Whistler devotees from age nine to 19
along with 28 students from Kim Galloway’s Grade 4/5 class at Spring Creek
elementary school to tell a coming of age tale only children could.
Stories are honest, funny and
heartfelt without that adult third-eye always editing their thoughts and
sentences.
This is Whistler kids uncut.
As producer, director and crew sandwich maker, I got to look at these stories right in the eye – children never flinch from telling you what is in their hearts. They wouldn’t know how to cover their sparkle, even if they tried. And thanks to the wily camera work of Frederick Oke and editing excellence of Jacob Gish, we got every last twinkle.
A film presented by the
Whistler Museum in partnership with the VANOC 2008 Cultural Olympiad, the focus
of this 30-minute documentary was on relaying the history of Whistler.
Made
in Whistler
is one of a four-part
film series called Community Now. Each year, the film explores Whistler’s
history by interviewing a different age demographic. Completed films have sat
down with seniors, adults, young adults and now children – which means crayons
and snow boots and skier cross starting gates and pointe shoes tied on with
pink ribbons.
From the ivory tickling of
EMI recording artist Ali Milner, 17, to the double axels of Olympic hopeful
Lisa Nakajima, 12, Whistler’s many sides, both creative and athletic, plays out
in each child’s story.
The film skis out with lifers
although kids may not be technically born in Whistler – the closest a planned
birth can come is a 45-minute drive away to Squamish.
“I think my first time on the
mountain was when I was a year old,” said 15-year-old Max Horner who was born
and raised in Whistler. “My mom took me up in a back pack and then after that,
I was around three years old when I skied. She kept me on a leash.”
Literally.
Max not even old enough to go
to elementary school was already bombing around the mountain, with his mom a
professional ski patroller, Kathy Jewett, trying to hold the now Whistler
Mountain Ski Club podium finisher back unsuccessfully on a ski leash.
Parents have also
transplanted kids to this neck of the woods for only a short stay, a kind of
return to Eden where limitless opportunities take shots at them.
Thirteen-year-old Jake Taber
walled up in the concrete living of the city never got to imagine let alone
exercise a passion for sports until Whistler. For the first time, the now goalie
of a youth Whistler hockey team plays hockey, golf, skis and hikes. He hopes
his father, Four Seasons general manager Scott Taber, won’t be transferred
before the Games.
“The Games are going to be
fantastic,” Jake said. “There is going to be the thing of no school.”
Only kids would see the Games
as an extra holiday from chalkboards and books. However, Ms. Galloway’s class
was only too enthusiastic to draw out what they loved best in Whistler as part
of an art project that weaves in and out of the nine-featured youth.
What they drew was almost as
interesting as what they didn’t draw.
“My dad isn’t in the picture
because he’s from Winnipeg and he doesn’t ski,” Nicole Daily explained of her
“family” picture of a ski day with her mom and sister.
Who knew what province you
came from would affect your ability to stand on two planks?
Humour aside, audiences will
be surprised the depth of kids’ understanding and appreciation for where they
live and what they deem important. I know I was.
For me, it was important to
embrace all of Whistler’s history – history that dates back thousands of years
when the Lil’wat and Squamish Nations dwelt together at the base of Garibaldi
Mountain in a community called Spo7ez. Audiences will ride with cousins Logan
and Kamana Bikadi of the Lil’wat Nation through their historic territory. The
stories of these First Nations Snowboard Team members will both charm and
enlighten.
Come sit among these
incredible youth and discover the future Whistler can look forward to. Applaud
what this town has made of them and in turn, what they have made of it.
Made in Whistler screens on
Thursday, Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at MY Millennium Place. The screening also
includes a student art exhibit at 7 p.m. as well as a film reception at 8 p.m.
with live music from Ali Milner and nibblies to socialize over.
Admission is free.