Travel Blog

27 Sep

Whistler Winter Anticipation– "Into The Mind" Movie

TAG: Amped-Up Adventure, Cultural Fix

Posted by: Feet Banks

It doesn’t take much. Just a tiny dusting of snow on the tip-tops of the mountains surrounding Whistler and people here start getting very excited about winter.

Callum Petit WhistlerWhistler skier Callum Petit. PHOTOS: Sherpas Cinema.

Skis and snowboards are pulled from storage, tattered old snowpants are duct-taped back into form and nearly every conversation you hear contains some version of “I heard this winter is gonna be epic!” Then the snowline creeps down the mountains and the anticipation really gets cranked up a notch just as the annual onslaught of ski and snowboard movie premiers rolls around.

And when one of those films is local it makes it that much better. Into The Mind, the latest flick from Whistler’s own Sherpas Cinema will have its World Premier in Whistler this Saturday September 28, 2013 and with a number of local athletes on the roster there is no doubt things are going to get bananas.

Sherpas Cinema, Whistler's finest

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“For us, Whistler is the epicentre of action sports in Canada,” says Sherpas Cinema producer Malcolm Sangster. “We’ve been out here twelve years now and everyone has given us so much, from the resort to the athletes to the fans, that it’s going to feel amazing to push play and let Whistler see the new film.”

Sherpas Cinema is known for their dedication to the art of film making and the more cerebral aspects of mountain culture . Their last film, All.I.Can, destroyed sales records and won more international awards than would fit in six-person gondola. Into the Mind is the culmination of two years of filming in eight different countries and the hometown crowd is excited to see what kind of tricks the Sherpas have up their sleeves this time around.

Kye Petersen, ripping

One of those tricks is a local “in-bounds” segment that was shot completely within Whistler Blackcomb boundaries.

“In bounds skiing is about having a training ground or a comfort zone,” Malcolm explains. “And that spans all levels from beginner hitting that first little jump off a cat track to an expert launching a big 40-footer on a pow day. In bounds is a place to learn and have fun and progress your skiing somewhere safe.”

The inbounds section of Into the Mind garnered a lot of attention last winter as it included carefully choreographed shots featuring multiple riders on some of Whistler Blackcomb’s best known terrain, including the massive 185-foot front lawn drop front flip Julien Carr threw down over the legendary Air Jordan cliff on Whistler.

Mixing mind-blowing action like that with thoughtful cultural observations, breathtaking cinematography and wow-factor timelapses from around the world allow the Sherpas to reach a broader audience with their films and show the depths of what makes mountain culture, and Whistler culture specifically, so special.

whistler sherpas

“The more we progress with these movies and try to get to that next level as filmmakers the more support we need to pull it off,” Malcolm says. “Whistler has always been there for us– from the mountain safety staff to the office managers to the athletes and just everyone in the community. On Saturday we can show them what it all means.”

In the meantime let’s watch the teaser again and get stoked for another season of skiing and riding in the best place on the planet.

Tickets for Into the Mind have been sold out for weeks but Sherpas Cinema is releasing their film online the same night as the Whistler premier so hit up their website and get the best ski film of the year. As well, a second public screening of Into the Mind is slated as part of the first ever Whistler edition of iF3, Canada’s biggest ski movie festival. That goes down October 12,2013, at Millennium Place.

Other upcoming Whistler snowsport premiers include Way of Life from Teton Gravity Research and McConkey from Matchstick Productions. Get your tickets, get stoked and get ready because winter is just around the corner.

Article source: http://www.whistler.com/blog/post/2013/09/25/Whistler-into-the-mind-film.aspx