Erica Tarasoff
Rossland News
Pretty Faces was a film more than eight years in the making. You could say its seed was planted when Rossland native Leah Evans — founder of Girls Do Ski, one of Canada’s premiere freeski camps, based in Revelstoke, B.C. — began her career as a professional skier and started Girls Day Out, her first ski camp. She and her team have provided freeski camps for women, promoting a healthy lifestyle both on and off the skis.
Since then, she’s had the opportunity to work with and film some of the industry’s leading professionals. However, she had yet to push herself to her limits.
It was when fellow professional skier and filmmaker Lynsey Dyer decided she would create her own, all-female ski movie, that Evans finally threw her hat in the ring. She asked herself, “What is it like to try?” and try she did.
Pretty Faces was the result, a documentary featuring women who ski, and ski well. But it would not have come to fruition without the support of the community.
Evans explained, “The crowd-sourced Kickstarter campaign rose over $113,000. But beyond the monetary support, the unity that has been created throughout the female ski community has been outstanding. This feminine-centric media space has provided us with an outlet to express our own version of courage, grace, confidence and vulnerability.”
“We want to support that community,” she added. Both Pretty Faces and Girls Do Ski aim to send out a strong message and be a source of inspiration for women in the ski world.
But the film was truly the brainchild of Dyer. Of her film, she said, “I wanted to give young girls something positive to look up to. I wanted to give them their Blizzard of Ahhs, Ski Movie or High Life, but done in a way that also shows the elegance, grace, community and style that is unique to women in the mountains.”
Evans reflected on just how much work goes into creating a ski documentary. It’s not as simple as setting up a camera on a ski hill and shooting; for one particular shot it took 20 kilometres of sledding, two hours of ski touring and organizing a cinematographer, all that so she could stand on top of a cliff and convince herself to jump. All of which showed her what it really means to “try.”
Sarah Woods, also of Girls Do Ski, said the film’s premiere in Rossland is not just for girls but for anyone interested in the ski ing community; it can inspire anyone.
For Woods, seeing girls who are good at skiing makes her think, “If they can do it, I can do it too.”
On Monday, October 6, Pretty Faces, will be shown at the Miners’ Hall. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the Red Pair Shoe Store. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the film will start at 7 p.m.. The screening will be followed by an event for networking and discussion and, though its exact place and time are not yet set, both Evans and Woods will be there.
With files from Josefin Svedberg.
