PREVIEW
To the Mountain
Written and directed by Eric Pauls
Starring Daniel Braun, Peter Morton, Joan Miles, Alysa Vanhaastert and Tanya Stone
Plays today from 1:20 to 3:20 p.m.
Screening includes a viewing of Instant: A Short Documentary, directed by Lauren Lim.
The Princess Theatre is located at 10337 82 Ave. in Edmonton
Visit www.tothemountainfilm.com for more information.
It’s a testament to the persistence of filmmaker Eric Pauls that his newest low budget work ever got made.
“Technically, any success we have is probably as a result of the fact that I just kept going,” he said. “I tried to convince myself that it was a hobby for the last five years but I realize it’s been a full-time job.”
To be fair, he should consider it to have been more like one full-time job with several part-time jobs thrown on top of it. He only had $10,000 to work with. To get things done means that this do-it-yourselfer not only served as the writer, director, and co-producer, he also scored the soundtrack with his band Young Neighbours.
His wife, in the meantime, was serving lunch. She was the caterer.
“I had to learn a lot of new skills because a lot of it we couldn’t hire out. I feel like I wrote my PhD now. I did film school a decade ago and now I just finished my PhD.”
All of that effort was poured into this passion project about a handful of people who find meaning in their lives as they meet by chance in the mountains over the course of one day. Even the story had to face the budget committee. The first draft of his script had around a dozen characters, each with their own intersecting story. Realizing he couldn’t afford all that, he pared it down to the basics.
There’s a father and son, two young women travelling on a year abroad, and a retired math professor. All of them have still to come to terms with the troubles in their lives, all of which seem somehow insignificant compared to the majesty of the Rockies as the backdrop.
For Pauls, choosing to film in the areas around Canmore and Kananaskis was easy. It wasn’t just because he loved the mountains and grew up snowboarding. Mostly, it was to enhance the story but there was also that tremendous scenery that you just can’t get anywhere else.
“I have the mountains right there which is the greatest production value you can imagine. It just makes practical sense. You set any scene in the mountains and there’s beauty and stakes automatically applied to the scene. There’s something about it.”
All of it works toward a poignant, quiet drama that’s quite effective. The wild serenity of the surroundings leaves the viewer feeling almost like just having had a trip to the mountains.
“It was an amazing experience. I was expecting a terrible experience but every day on set was amazing. I think I really lucked out in having the actors. I didn’t have the money to buy great actors. I had to luck out and find five random people that could be amazing in the movie. I got those people and it just turned out to be the funnest experience ever.”
