From December 4-8 this year, the Whistler Film Festival + Content Summit 2024 presents over 100 films, including 47 feature films and nine short film programs, featuring Oscar contenders, breakthrough Canadian titles, heart-stopping adventure films, and award-winning stories from around the globe. Unique industry initiatives and lively events will also round out this cinematic celebration in North America’s premier mountain resort destination.
At this Festival, participants will find ski bums and storytellers, dealmakers and dealbreakers, burgeoning filmmakers and award-winning directors/producers all rubbing elbows at both industry galas and on the chairlift.
Apart from the following B.C. creators’ films, there are also 10 B.C.-made films in the ShortWorks program this year. Watch this space for more details!
RESIDENT ORCA tells the shocking true story of a captive whale’s fight for survival and freedom. After decades of failed attempts to bring her home, an unlikely partnership between Indigenous matriarchs, a billionaire philanthropist, killer whale experts, and the aquarium’s new owner take on the herculean task of freeing Lolita, captured 53 years ago, only to spend the rest of her life performing in the smallest killer whale tank in North America. When Lolita falls ill under troubling circumstances, her advocates are faced with a painful question: Is it too late to save her?
From first time feature documentary directors, Sarah Sharkey Pearce and Simon Schneider and executive producers Squil-le-he-le (Raynell Morris) and Tah-Mahs (Ellie Kinley) of the Lummi Nation, this intimate and heart-breaking narrative explores our relationship with the natural world through a captive whale and the attempts to return her to her wild family.
Directors Sarah Sharkey Pearce and Simon Schneider along with special guests will be in attendance.
RESIDENT ORCA
This documentary delves into the journeys of IsKweWak (women) storytellers navigating the film and television industry. Featuring prominent voices such as writer-director Jules Koostachin, Marie Clement, Jessie Anthony, Kayah George, Tristin Greyeyes, Asia Youngman, and acclaimed documentarian Alanis Obomsawin, SISTERS IN FILM emphasizes the vital role of Indigenous women in film and their contributions to socio-political change.
Through an Indigenous women’s lens, filmmaker Jules Koostachin alongside her colleagues examines key themes and hurdles that have plagued the authenticity of Indigenous creators. Topics such as storytelling protocols, gender biases, representation, imposter syndrome, and the genre of Indigenous film are discussed while highlighting the power of Indigenous storytelling and the individual and collective practices that shape their identities.
SISTERS IN FILM offers an essential exploration of systemic discrimination in the industry, while also presenting clear, actionable solutions to combat these challenges. The documentary deepens the understanding of Indigenous filmmaking as a distinct and powerful genre.
Director Jules Koostachin will be in attendance.
NIIMISSAK: SISTERS IN FILM
Kay is in trouble. After a strange encounter in the woods, she’s left with no memory and only one unsettling certainty: she’s the exact double of the missing monster hunter, Barb Valentine. When an intruder breaks into her home, Kay flees with no destination—only a sense that finding answers about Barb’s disappearance is her sole hope for reconnecting with herself. As she follows cryptic clues from random encounters, what begins as a search for identity soon turns into a hunt for the monster itself.
KRYPTIC
MOUNTAIN CULTURE SHORTS: PIONEERS OF HER TIME
PIONEERS OF HER TIME showcases shorts highlighting women, from the 1800s to today, who overcame barriers in their pursuit of adventure and sport. Unwavering, brave, and determined—these trailblazers have shaped and continue to shape the future for generations to come. Join filmmakers from this shorts program for an extended conversation about their films at the Whistler Public Library, on Friday, December 6 from 5:00pm – 6:00pm PST. This is a free event.
MOUNTAIN CULTURE SHORTS: PIONEERS OF HER TIME
A gripping frontline dives into the lives of activists urgently blocking logging roads on Vancouver Island, in a last-ditch attempt to stop old-growth logging in the untouched Fairy Creek valley.
When police begin arresting people for standing in the way of forestry workers, thousands more protestors flock to the woods to participate in a dramatic and historic stand-off, now recognized as Canada’s largest act of civil disobedience. Following a cast of blockaders, Indigenous land defenders, and loggers, the film takes an insider look at the rise and fall of the contentious Fairy Creek blockade. The film assembles visceral front-line footage of activists faced with an RCMP-enforced injunction, protesting from ground to sky as blockaders form barriers with their bodies and tree-sitters’ forest canopies are assailed by officers deployed from helicopters.
Weaving together an array of perspectives, FAIRY CREEK is an urgent and heartbreaking portrait of collective resistance that simultaneously explores the contradictions in a mass movement of civil disobedience.
Director Jen Muranetz and Producer Sepehr Samimi will be in attendance.
FAIRY CREEK
Twenty years ago, teenagers Matthew Nichols and Jordan Reimer, were inspired by the release of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. The boys broke out a VHS camcorder and started filming their adventures in a forest on the northern edge of Vancouver Island. And then something terrible happened. Matthew and Jordan went missing.
No one in the rural community could account for their disappearance. Was this a hoax? Did the boys run away? It wasn’t uncommon for young people to flee the small town searching for big adventures in the city––but where did they go?
In 2023, Tara Nichols, Matthew’s sister, sets out to discover what happened to her brother. The only clues that offer Tara insight into the boys’ vanishing is a stack of homemade VHS recordings that chronicle her brother’s fascination with a local legend. When an unsettling piece of video evidence is revealed, Tara, and the rest of her documentary crew, spiral into the investigation and the disturbing circumstances behind Matthew and Jordan’s disappearance.
Director/Writer/Actor Markian Tarsiuk, Actor Christine Willes and Producer/Writer Sean Oliver will be in attendance.
HUNTING MATTHEW NICHOLS
MOUNTAIN CULTURE SHORTS: BOLD PURSUITS FROM SKY TO ICE
This must-see shorts lineup features Barefoot Pilot, The Beginning, Wild Aerial, and Ice Waterfalls — each film showcasing adventures and breathtaking perspectives.
MOUNTAIN CULTURE SHORTS: BOLD PURSUITS FROM SKY TO ICE
There are also 10 B.C.-made films in ShortWorks program this year. View the full schedule and buy tickets on whistlerfilmfestival.com.
