{"id":796,"date":"2014-12-28T18:34:38","date_gmt":"2014-12-29T02:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fourchinnigan.com\/blog\/?p=796"},"modified":"2017-09-03T23:28:15","modified_gmt":"2017-09-04T06:28:15","slug":"banff-school-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fourchinnigan.com\/blog\/?p=796","title":{"rendered":"Banff School Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"banff_afw003\"
\n<\/a>The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival<\/a> is one of the most respected (if not the preeminent) adventure and outdoor film festival in existence. It is held for nine days every fall in Canada’s oldest\u00c2\u00a0national park, Banff<\/a>. Afterwards, select films are screened in forty countries during their World Tour<\/a>. I have been attending the World Tour in Pasadena for the last few years looking forward to a time when I could attend the festival itself (hopefully as a contributing filmmaker). With the release of G.O. Get Outside<\/a>, <\/em>this seemed like the ideal year to take that step.<\/p>\n

While reviewing their site for submission information, I stumbled across their Adventure Filmmakers’ Workshop<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dan intensive 8-day program during the festival focused specifically on outdoor and adventure filmmaking. I decided to both submit G.O.<\/em> to the festival and to apply for the workshop. The application process may have been more involved than my college applications and was the first time I have written a resume in several years. In the end, G.O.<\/em> was not accepted to the festival largely because it was too rudimentary and instructional for the festival crowd. I was, although, one of the students\u00c2\u00a0selected for\u00c2\u00a0the workshop.<\/p>\n

November 1st was a busy day. I woke early for a 12-hour shoot, went immediately\u00c2\u00a0to a Day of the Dead<\/a> party afterwards, and then directly to the airport for my international flight to Alberta, Canada and the beginning of 10 long and fantastic days at the Banff Centre<\/a>, an arts school situated in a national park. Each day there was as busy as that day before I arrived, packed full of some combination of classroom time, festival screenings, socializing and parties, and churning out a short movie. It was like being in college again\u00e2\u20ac\u201dlittle sleep, lots of fun and productivity (and a little stress). I had been\u00c2\u00a0unsure about whether the workshop would be a valuable investment of time and money. In the end, it may have been one of the best decisions I have made in years. The instructors (Michael Brown<\/a> and Keith Partridge<\/a>) were extremely knowledgeable and all-around great people. My fellow students were also awesome\u00c2\u00a0people\u00e2\u20ac\u201deveryone was eager to help each other and share knowledge. I hope to work with many (or all of them) in the future and I look forward to seeing what they all create. We also had access to facilities and festival events most attendees do not. I left with an inundation of pertinent information and valuable contacts it would have taken many years to accumulate.<\/p>\n