Toronto-based actor Glen Matthews, who's in the acting company for the 2012 Women in the Director's Chair workshop.

It’s now more than a week since I travelled to The Banff Centre and I’m still incapable of catching my breath. You could probably blame the 4,800 foot altitude in Banff (or perhaps my extended absence from the treadmill), but after two weeks of breathlessness, only one explanation remains: I think I’m in love…

It was a month ago when I received word that I had been selected to join the 2012 Women in the Director’s Chair Acting Ensemble. Talking to many of my peers in Halifax who, in the past, had participated in various programs at The Banff Centre, it didn’t take me long to get excited about my inclusion in the ensemble.

Since starting the workshop two Sundays ago (on the 15th), there wasn’t much time to stop and smell the proverbial roses; every day was jam-packed with exhilarating, exhausting challenges that kept us on our toes.

Early in week one, we had a day of auditioning (I literally mean a full day: I auditioned six times), after which the ensemble was assigned to work with their directors on the Main Scenes where the majority of our collective efforts were to be placed. I was chosen by directors Celia McBride and Sara McIntyre  to help bring their fantastic scripts to life.

We also worked on Guerilla Scenes. We were given scripts that intentionally had very little to no set-up and back story, in an attempt throw us off our game and get our filmmaking-feet wet before launching into the Main Scenes.

Glen Matthews in director Sara McIntyre's scene, called Sixy Fingers. Photo: Don Lee.

The night before shooting the guerillas, WIDC Producer Carol Whiteman gave a speech about protecting the filmmaker’s “freedom to fail” which really stuck with me. The next day, during the Guerilla Shoot I felt inspired to attempt things that I ordinarily wouldn’t try. Small things, but things nonetheless; immeasurable to the naked eye, but [personally] groundbreaking .

After we wrapped up the Main Scenes (which went phenomenally), it seemed as though things were finally slowing down…a bit more bitter than sweet. 

A phrase that’s been said again and again around here has been “It’s about the process not the product”, and you truly feel that. It’s something I’ll certainly try to hold onto as I try to acclimate (see what I did there?) back into the soul-crushing “real world” of show-business.

Thank you everyone in Banff. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with all of you.

Glen Matthews (www.GlenMatthews.ca) is a professional actor, currently based out of Toronto, with roles in HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, THE CORRIDOR, MOBY DICK, ROLLER TOWN and HAVEN. He was recently voted Halifax’s BEST FILM/TV ACTOR by the readers of The Coast Halifax’s Weekly, and nominee for a Robert Merritt Award (Theatre NS) for BEST MALE LEAD PERFORMANCE for his work in 2010′s LOGAN AND I. Watch his demo reel here.

Calgary’s Chad VanGaalen headlined the October 1 Indie Band Showcase Concert at The Banff Centre. Photo courtesy The Banff Centre/

All this past week I’ve been recapping The Banff Centre’s Indie Band Experience, playing you interviews, concerts and some amazing videos. To help culiminate the amazing experience Mise En Scene, Doldrums, and The Abramson Singers had working with Producers Tony Berg, Howard Bilerman, and Shawn Everett, Chad VanGaalen stopped by to play some classics and new songs off his album Diaper Island.

Chad VanGaalen helped close The Indie Band Experience. Photo courtesy Jeff Thorburn.

Coming up in the next few days you’ll hear that recording of Chad playing at the Margaret Greenham Theatre and an interview he did with Jessa Runciman. Subscribe to our podcast to make sure you get that interview and the concert recording. While you’re there, you can hear all the other interviews and concerts done by the Banff Centre Audio team.

It’s been really amazing getting to recap The Indie Band Experience. I know everyone had a great time working, recording, and making some amazing music. Keep your eyes on the blog to stay apart of other incredible things happening here at The Banff Centre.

Leah Abramson and the Abramson Singers play The Club. Photo: The Banff Centre.

We’ve been going back to the fall of 2011 on the blog this week to recap The Banff Centre’s Indie Band Experience. So far we’ve featured videos, interviews, and concert recordings all in the attempt to recount the amazing 3 weeks bands had recording, writing, and working with faculty like former Banff Centre resident and Weezer Producer Shawn Everett.

Yesterday I featured an interview and concert with Toronto’s Doldrums. Today you’ll hear an interview with Leah Abramson of The Abramson Singers followed by her sonically rich concert in the Margaret Greenham Theatre.

Leah Abramson belts it out. Photo: The Banff Centre.

“Singing makes me happier than anything…Even if I’m singing something sad, it still makes me happy.“

Listen to that interview and the concert recording.

Also, check out the great video below from Shot at the Dark of The Abramson Singers trekking their instruments through the Banff forests and making great music.

Special thanks to CBC Radio 3‘s Chris Kelly for his ongoing support.

Our last blog post on the Banff Centre’s Indie Band Experience will feature Chad VanGaalen, keep your eyes on the blog or our iTunes U page for that interview, concert and more.

Airick Woodhead of Doldrums performs live at The Club. Photo courtesy of The Banff Centre.

All this week on the blog we’re going back to the fall of 2011 for The Banff Centre’s Indie Band Experience. There are interviews, concert recordings, and videos recapping the amazing 3 weeks bands had recording, writing, and working with faculty like Producer Tony Berg – who’s worked with Bob Dylan, Eddie Vedder and others.

Yesterday I featured Winnipeg’s Mise En Scene. Today we’re changing gears to hear an interview with Airick Woodhead of Doldrums, recorded and produced by Jessa Runciman. After, you’ll hear a live concert recording from underneath the Eric Harvie Theatre in The Club. If you haven’t heard Doldrums (and even if you have) this concert is really something special.

Doldrums mixing on stage at The Club. Photo courtesy of The Banff Centre

“The stuff I’m doing now is actually more similar to what I started doing – when I started thinking of music as my own creation.“

Listen to that interview and the concert recording.

Also, check out the great video below from Shot at the Dark of Doldrums performing on a gondola up Sulphur Mountain.

Special thanks to CBC Radio 3‘s Chris Kelly for his ongoing support.

Keep checking the blog all week for more on The Abramson Singers, and Chad VanGaalen.

Winnipeg’s Mise en Scene, one of the 3 bands in the 2011 Banff Indie Band. Photo courtesy of The Banff Centre.

All this week I’ll be bringing you interviews, concert recordings, and videos from The Banff Centre’s Indie Band Experience that happened in the fall of 2011. Bands got to work with faculty like Arcade Fire drummer/producer Howard Bilerman, recording new songs and honing their skills.

The first band of our feature is Mise En Scene from Winnipeg. Members Stefanie Johnson & Jodi Dunlop talk to Podcast Production work study Evie Ruddy about art, working in an Icelandic community, and intensely collaborating.

Stephanie Blondal and Jodi Dunlop, Mise en Scene, at The Club. Photo courtesy of The Banff Centre.

“it’s not about just being a rock-and-roll band…which is great…but it’s a craft.”

Listen to the interview and a live recording of their concert at the Margaret Greenham Theatre.

Also, watch this great video from Shot at the Dark of Mise En Scene performing in front of Cascade Mountain.

While in Banff, Stephanie and Jodi were turned into fairies in a video for their song Hey Velvet. Keep an eye out for the next issue of Boulder Pavement to see how things turned out.

Keep checking the blog all week for more on Doldrums, The Abramson Singers, and Chad VanGaalen.

Special thanks to Chris Kelly from CBC Radio 3 for his ongoing help with The Indie Band Experience.

Producer Howard Bilerman (left) in the studio at The Banff Centre. Photo courtesy of the Banff Centre.

The Banff Centre Indie Experience invites bands from around the world to utilize the centre’s extensive facilities for 3 weeks to write, rehearse, and record new work. This past fall, Mise En Scene, Doldrums, and The Abramson Singers all came to work with the likes of Tony Berg, Howard Bilerman, Shawn Everett, and the Banff Centre Audio team…amidst the and inspirational Banff mountains.

At the end of the three weeks, a lot of work, and an ample amount of learning, the bands were joined on stage  by Polaris Prize shortlister Chad VanGaalen to perform a concert at the Margaret Greenham Theatre as a part of Alberta Arts Days.

Calgary’s Chad VanGaalen. Photo courtesy of Jeff Thorburn.

Luckily, the Banff Centre Audio team was on hand to record everything. Over the course of this week I’ll be bringing you those concert recordings, interviews with the three bands, and some great videos.

Today we get to know the bands and faculty in this short documentary, produced with the support of ARDN and with the help of our friends at Deluxe Design Group.

“I woulda been a pro climber if I hadn’t hurt my knee.” Meet The Freedom Chair’s Josh Dueck, an adaptive skier who tackles the steepest and wildest mountains in the world.

“I shoulda gone to film school but I didn’t have the money.” Meet Leanne Allison, award-winning filmmaker and digital storyteller whose first Festival film, Being Caribou, was the product of a week’s worth of camera training and a good story.

“We coulda saved the forests, but no one was listening.” Meet the Sierra Club’s Caitlyn Vernon, whose book for young readers, Nowhere Else on Earth: Standing Tall for the Great Bear Rainforest was a hit at the Festival.

Writer Jan Redford connects with Tim Cope in the boat studio

In the wooden fishing boat that is the ‘Henriquez studio’ in The Banff Centre’s Leighton Artists’ Colony, Banff Centre Fleck Fellow Tim Cope is writing the book to accompany the film which follows his three-and-a-half year journey in the footsteps of Ghengis Khan. I finally catch a quiet moment with him and ask him how it was that a pretty average Aussie kid grew up to live this extraordinary dream. “When I was about 14 or 15 I read Tim Macartney-Snape’s book Everest From Sea to Summit,” he said. “Later I saw his video, and then, incredibly, I met the man himself. I got a signed copy of his book, and it was hugely inspirational. It made a huge impact on me.”

As I walk away from Tim’s studio, the 2011 Festival, and the extraordinary characters that I have met, I question: “Can I learn to ride a horse, kite-ski it across the Arctic, do the world’s first mounted BASE jump, and get a film about it into next year’s Festival?” Can, shall, will.

See you in 355 sleeps.

Tim Cope presents his three-hour film about his three-and-a-half years of travel from Mongolia to Hungary. Photo courtesy of The Banff Centre.

“There are so many people I’d like to thank for this film – it’s been a six or seven year project. And there are lots of people who stood by the film. But apart from my family, and the 90 or 100 families I stayed with during the journey who made it possible, I guess I’d like to take the chance to say thanks to my horses, the three that took me through: Ogonyok (who was so paranoid that he would bolt at the sound of his own fart), Taskonir, and one other horse … oh, I won’t repeat the name … oh, OK I will, it’s kok – k.o.k. And not to forget, a really big thanks to my dog, Tigon.”

Cory Richards' response to winning the 2011 Grand Prize was the same as when he was on the mountain: "What the F am I doing here?"

I cannot believe that a dark, short, sort of experimental, R-rated adventure film would win this prize. – Anson Fogel

Last February, at a high camp on Gasherbrum II in Pakistan’s Karakorum Range, Simone Moro, Denis Urubko, and Cory Richards completed the first winter summit of one of the country’s 8,000-metre peaks. Until then, the mountain was an achievement that 16 expeditions over the past 26 winters had failed to bag. With shivering hands on his camera, Richards captured an immediate, personal view of an expedition that scraped the limits of endurance for all three, with days in a sheer deepfreeze, and a sudden, near-fatal avalanche on the descent. Director Anson Fogel, impressed with Richards’ handheld footage, edited the story together to create Cold, announced tonight as the 2011 Banff Mountain Film Competition Grand Prize winner and recipient of the award for Best Climbing Film. Fogel also produced this year’s Best Short Mountain Film award-winner, Chasing Water.  

“This is surreal,” Fogel said as he took the stage for the third time tonight, “I love Canada. I’m completely overwhelmed; mostly by an incredible sense of appreciation and thankfulness that I can do this for a living. Thank you to all the people who come and support not just our film, but all these small mountaineering and adventure films. None of us would have jobs if it wasn’t for you. Please keep coming.”

We were awed by this film,” said the jury, “it’s sensitivity, its humility, and its great technical prowess.”

Fogel, who attended the 2010 Banff Adventure Filmmakers workshop, says he is honoured to watch his films on the Banff screen. “Being in Banff around 300 other talented filmmakers is inspiring. You can’t help but learn from hearing and seeing how the others tell a story.” And how does Cory Richards feel about sitting through the film himself? “Uncomfortable! I know it is a beautiful piece of art, but it sucks me back to that moment. I tend to want to leave the theatre and look for someone to have a beer with!” No problem there Cory; see you in about an hour at the wrap party.

2011 Banff Mountain Film Competition Winners

Grand Prize – Cold
The Banff Centre Award for Creative Excellence – The Wolf and the Medallion
Best Film – Exploration and Adventure – Kadoma
Best Film – Mountain Culture – The Sun Behind the Clouds
Best Film – Mountain Environment – SPOIL
Best Film – Climbing – Cold
Best Film – Mountain Sports – The Freedom Chair
Best Film – Wildlife and Natural History – Broken Tail
Best Short Mountain Film – Chasing Water
Best Feature-length Mountain Film – All.I.Can
Special Jury Mention – Journey on the Wild Coast
People’s Choice Award for Radical Reels – Reel Rock: Race for the Nose

SImon, Tina, Jemima, and Nell. Just four of the many international organisers who take the Festival to more than 30 countries of the world.

Simon Piper, Tina Qian, Jemima Robinson, and Nell Teasdale are all Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour organisers. Between them, they are responsible for taking the best of the Festival films on tour in the UK, Australia, and China.

“A friend asked me, ‘Why don’t you bring Banff Mountain Film Festival into China?’” Tina writes on the banffchina.com website; “It is this question so stunning that I nearly fall from sofa to ground.” Only two years old, the Chinese Banff Mountain Film Festival Tour is going gangbusters. It is the first foreign film festival to be approved for import by the Chinese government, and the first to show all of its films in HD. Attendance has doubled in the last year, and Tina has made the Chinese Tour her full-time job. “It is a dream come true,” she says, “bridging Chinese outdoor fans with the world.”