2013 Waterwalker Film Festival

Winning Films

&

Short Listed

WINNER TITLES                 CATAGORY                                                                             

IKKATSU, the Roadless Coast                        Best Environmental Film

http://vimeo.com/49922487

Steve Weileman                                                    40 minutes

In March of 2011 Japan suffered a devastating earthquake followed by a series of equally devastating tsunamis. AS the waters receded, an estimated 1.5 million tons of debris was washed back into the Pacific - all of which was destined to land on distant shores. In the summer of 2012 three professional sea kayakers, supported by a staff of mainstream scientists started an unprecedented journey; paddle the roadless coast of Washington to survey the debris on some of the wildest shoreline and ultimately to bring back their data.

Tierra Del Fuego                                                     Best Sea Kayaking Film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDJk2F0NSzg

Justine Curgenven, Cackle TV Productions            52 minutes

Justine Curgenven and Barry Shaw will paddled about 1,000 miles around the remote and windswept, glacier-ridden island of Tierra del Fuego.  Shipping delays, a stolen kayak, endless red tape, incessant winds and injury threaten their safety and success.  

Survival of the Wettest                                   Best Canadian Location Film

https://vimeo.com/60865417

Grant Cudmore, Mystic Paddler Productions                6:06 minutes

Grant shares his philosophy of sea kayaking which drives him to get out there and progress in the sport.  This is an eclectic mix of some of his best shots of paddling around Newfoundland and Labrador. 

Have Kids, Will Paddle                                    Best Adventure & Best Canoe Film

http://vimeo.com/50351309 (slide show preview of Dan’s film)

Dan Clark                                                                            14 minutes

Dan and his family take on another adventure, canoeing from Jasper to Tuktoyaktuk along the Mackenzie River drainage.

Ten Thousand J-Strokes                                           Best Amateur Film

Craig Oldfield and Kole Kuntz                                              13:29 minutes

This film was shot over a 9 day period in which a group of students in Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership at Mount Royal University paddle over 170 km of the Churchill River system in northern Saskatchewan.  The film focused on the difference and importance of life between being on the trip and daily life as students back in Calgary.

Ain’t Louiefest                                        Best Social Media Film

Paul Mason                                                           9:41 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfqznTGKweA

Paul shares his paddling adventures with a taste of Ain’t Louiefest.  Every March, Paul and friends, make the pilgrimage from Ottawa, Ontario to Lenoir CIty, Tennessee.  Ain’t Louiefest is the place to be if you own an open canoe.  This video explains what it is and highlights a few rivers and creeks in the area.

River God 2 - The Journey Continues                     Best Action Film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_vTHSxyrH4

Olaf Obsommer                                                                       26 minutes

22-year-old Extreme Kayak World Champion Sam Sutton from New Zealand and the renowned German kayak filmmaker Olaf Obsommer (41) have returned from a kayak expedition around the world. For one year, the two extreme paddlers and their friends of the adidas Sickline team were searching for the most spectacular runnable whitewater on the planet -- or as kayakers like to say -- for the next „River God". Their strenuous journey takes them to Russia to the remote Altai Mountains in the heart of Siberia, to Iceland, the Kingdom of Waterfalls, and to Chiapas in the South of Mexico. Here they finally find a true River God.

That First Glide                                             Best SUP Film and Best Documentary Film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWuwgWdKHWw

Mike Waltze, Mike Waltze Films                            1 hour 14 minutes

An inspirational tale about the history of Stand Up Paddle.  A must to see for anyone with or without a paddle in their hand.  

Chilcotin                                                       Best Short Film

http://vimeo.com/46693918

Todd Lawson, Mountain Life Media                         2:26 minutes

A 4 day, 4 night fully self-supported whitewater SUP adventure from Taseko Junction to Farwell Canyon British Columbia.  Three members of C4 Waterman’s Explore Team (plus local Jesse Hohert) dropped into the river at hight water and it was game-on right away.  A few dicey logjams and lots of big floating logs (and one massive 60’ tree) to avoid, but many Class III wave trains and rapids.

SHORT LISTED FILMS

Elemental

http://www.elementalthefilm.com/

A Go Project Films Production, Elemental tells the story of three individuals united by their deep connection with nature and driven to confront some of the most pressing ecological challenges of our time.

The film follows Rajendra Singh, an Indian government official gone rogue, on a 40-day pilgrimage down India’s once pristine Ganges river, now polluted and dying. Facing community opposition and personal doubts, Singh works to shut down factories, halt construction of dams, and rouse the Indian public to treat their sacred “Mother Ganga” with respect. Across the globe in northern Canada, Eriel Deranger mounts her own “David and Goliath” struggle against the world’s largest industrial development, the Tar Sands, an oil deposit larger than the state of Florida. A young mother and native Denè, Deranger struggles with family challenges while campaigning tirelessly against the Tar Sands and its proposed 2,000-mile Keystone XL Pipeline, which are destroying Indigenous communities and threatening an entire continent.  And in Australia, inventor and entrepreneur Jay Harman searches for investors willing to risk millions on his conviction that nature’s own systems hold the key to our world’s ecological problems. Harman finds his inspiration in the natural world’s profound architecture and creates a revolutionary device that he believes can slow down global warming, but will it work?  Separated by continents yet sharing an unwavering commitment to protecting nature, the characters in this story are complex, flawed, postmodern heroes for whom stemming the tide of environmental destruction fades in and out of view – part mirage, part miracle.

Living the Stoke

http://vimeo.com/16427696

Rob Pirie, Von Piros Producations 45 minutes

This Stand Up Paddle movie is film in the remote wilderness of Papua New Guinea. Not just a surf movie but an amazing adventure in a worn torn country with such beautiful people.

The Fishing Trip

Rob Waywell and Peter Waywell, Loon Island Outdoors 12:22 minutes

Loon Island Outdoors presents another “Father and Son Fishing Trip” to Algonquin Park.  Check out to see who really wins the fishing contest.