The SNOWMAN World Premiere was a resounding success, claiming "Best Mountain Culture Film" and selling out 2 theaters to a standing ovation. The Whistler Film Festival kicked off last Wednesday night with a bang, featuring Oscar contender The Imitation Game, before screening 87 films from all over the world to finally close out with SNOWMAN as the Closing Gala film. SNOWMAN sold out before the festival even began and in an unprecedented move, the festival arranged a second screening in the Rainbow Theatre for the same night.
For the crew it was a busy week managing press, preparations for the screening, watching films and meeting other filmmakers while also introducing ourselves to the greater film industry. Meanwhile Kevin was busy working in Toba, managing early season avalanche danger and made it back just in time for Sunday.
At the awards brunch on Sunday the film claimed "Best Mountain Culture Film" at the festival, making it a rare occasion where a film has won an award before it has even been screened. The evening brought with it much hype as the local Whistler community rallied to pack 2 theatres and this local support is something we are eternally grateful for.
Paul Gratin, the WFF program director proclaimed SNOWMAN, "the best closing gala film ever in the festival's history," and as the lights went down we hoped it would live up to expectation. Sitting in the theater, watching our work on the big screen in a packed theatre of film lovers and friends was a humbling experience. After staring at it for so long in the edit suite there were more laughs than we remembered putting in there, more emotion, and ultimately it looked and felt like a film to everyone in the room, including ourselves. The doubts that all creators go through slowly washed away.
A standing ovation was something we would never have dreamed of and can only say thank you once again to all those that supported this project! Companies like Salomon and Whistler Blackcomb, our Kickstarter contributors, families and friends, and the network of brilliant and creative minds that we called on on numerous occasions. We must also acknowledge Shawna Hardy-Mishaw and her tireless team for creating such an incredible forum for filmmakers like ourselves to share our work not just with a home crowd, but on a world stage.
In the afterglow of the premiere we are taking stock and enjoying the positive reviews, some of which are included below. Beyond that, we are looking towards our strategy moving forward with film festivals and potential distribution.
Press:
Globe and Mail: "Snowman: ‘Godfather of free-skiing’ behind the camera for directorial debut" by Marsha Lederman
The Province: "Whistler Film Fest: Snowman closes the weekend with a message of passion and an entrepreneur
