Standing Ovation at Banff Festival Snow Show – Freedom Chair Review

Last night a packed house at the Eric Harvie Theater in Banff AB Canada, gave a standing ovation when film makers Mike Douglas and Jeff Thomas and star Josh Dueck arrived on stage after their new short film Freedom Chair played.

Josh Dueck and Jeff Thomas: pre-show at at Banff Festival Snow Show 

Whether the ovation was for Dueck himself, or the film, or the film makers, it was tough to tell, but what was certain was that there was a show of appreciation from the crowd. The film briefly tells the story of die-hard skier Josh Dueck’s path from an athlete to a coach, who sustains a life altering spinal injury and then turns in to a champion mono (sit ski) skier. Josh then goes on to shred powder on a cat skiing trip at Chatter Creek. Freedom Chair a powerful short movie about life, loss, love and hope and it brings forth the best parts of Josh Dueck’s inspirational character to the surface.

Watch the Freedom Chair Teaser http://biglines.com/video/freedom-chair-official-trailer 

Standing Ovation for Freedom Chair: at Banff Festival Snow Show

There was a Q&A session after the movie with Dueck and the film makers in which the crowd gravitated mostly towards Dueck and burnt all the time allotted asking him questions, mostly about his personal journey. Douglas and Thomas may not have been in the crowd’s spotlight but if there was one underlying theme of the night, for me, it was that Mike Douglas has arrived as one of the most legitimate film makers and producers in mountain sports. The Banff Mountain Film festival has a way of legitimizing people’s careers and last night’s Snow Show had Douglas’s finger prints all over it. From All.I.Can, to his own Freedom Chair short film, to the ending Man And The Mammoth short film, Mike Douglas had a major contribution to all of the above through his production company Switchback Entertainment. If you consider that the biggest web edit of the week (SFSTV GoPro Edit) was also a Switchback Entertainment piece then you start to get a glimpse of how far Douglas’s influence is reaching.

 Q&A session with Freedom Chair personalities: Josh Dueck, Mike Douglas, Jeff Thomas

When I asked Mike about what it felt like to get a standing ovation from the crowd, it was obvious that it felt really good.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Douglas, “you always hope that people will truly connect with what you put together on film, but it rarely happens. Josh Dueck is such an engaging and inspiring character. I hope his story will help make some lives better.”

Mike Douglas doesn’t have long to bask in the reception here in Banff, however. He’s due up the mountain for his Embedded feature with Whistler Blackcomb on Friday or at Cody Townsend’s wedding in Hawaii this weekend, whichever one comes first! It’s crazy how busy Douglas is. Most people say he’s the hardest working guy in the ski industry but I’ve heard Douglas reserve this honor for Chris Davenport, who also happens to be at the Banff Festival this year. I saw Davenport before the Snow Show and he looked like he was still wearing his zombie make-up from Halloween! They’ve latched him in to being a judge for the festival this year and he’s spent multiple 10 hour days watching every submission that made the cut this year. It’s a daunting job that pretty much makes your eyeballs bleed. It’s an honor but it’s also a gnarly job. There will be no rest for him after the festival either, because sitting in his hotel room is all his ski gear for his next mission to Antarctica. He’s flying directly from Calgary to Buenos Aires where he will catch up with a commercial guiding crew and hop on a boat to the ice continent; must be nice. He’s speaking on Friday at 12:30 by the way and he asked me to rally the locals to come to it. Are there any steep skiers in Banff that can make it? http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainfestival/schedule.mvc

Freedom Chair played as one part of the Banff Mountain Film Festival’s ‘Snow Show,’ last night and the one other flick that really caught my attention was Xavier De La Rue’s movie ‘This is My Winter.’ This was such a cool little documentary about Xavier’s quest to film a part for a snowboard flick and all the rad stuff he did last season to make it happen. It was a great watch that had some icefall riding craziness, to all-time Haines, to several notable big Euro ski/board mountaineering ticks. If you get a chance, make sure to watch this one. Watch the teaser here: http://biglines.com/video/my-winter-xavier-de-la-rue-teaser

The crowd dispersed fairly quickly on Wednesday night. I think they are all saving up for letting loose on Friday after Greg Hill’s presentation…. Until then I sign off.

-Tim Grey