CANMORE – Ching Yu and Rongqin Su want you to get outside.
The married couple and adventure filmmakers of DioDio Studio in Canmore are bringing stories of the great outdoors to living rooms and are hoping to inspire all communities to explore the vast world at their feet.
Their three newest films – Find Me Outside, Old Mountain and The Great Divide – are all being featured at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) until March 3, and streaming until March 23.
“I think for both of us, it all comes down to whether the story touches us first,” said Yu, filmmaker of Find Me Outside. “As a filmmaker, I feel like we have a responsibility to make the world a little bit better.”
Find Me Outside, which is having its world premiere at VIMFF, is a heartwarming family outdoor documentary following four adventurous families from Alberta and British Columbia, who are into popular sports from their regions from skiing in the Rockies, coldwater surfing on the ocean, rock climbing in the B.C. mountains, and Indian Horse Relay in the prairies.
Yu received a grant from VIMFF and Arc’teryx to produce the film.
“I wanted to film all parts of kids playing outside,” said Yu. “I want to inspire kids from different ethnicities … Documentaries have this magical power to transform the public perception on a lot of social issues.”
The Great Divide is a story of the Whelans, a Canmore family, with father “Adventure Dan” leading an expedition across snowy mountains to see the glaciers before they melt and cease to exist. With adult children and injuries piling up for Dan, it’s “now or never” to see one of the great wonders of the world.
“For The Great Divide, we planned it for a couple years,” said its filmmaker Su, who also is behind the lens of Old Mountain.
The Great Divide trailer from DioDio Studio on Vimeo.
Old Mountain is the story about a 74-year-old man still finding love in the mountains. Despite his body slowing down, Lorne Short still skis, with his loyal dog, Messy, chasing closely behind.
“I like to share these kinds of stories of outside to inspire others to get to the mountains … so it [brought] me to tell these stories Old Mountain and The Great Divide,” said Su.
The trio of films are each less than 20 minutes long. Although, Su said it was enough time to be able to tell the stories they wanted to.
Old Mountain-Trailer from DioDio Studio on Vimeo.
The couple, with their two children, are currently in London, England attending a film school and learning about science and natural history. A self-proclaimed ski bum, Yu has a science background and said her calling as a filmmaker came later in life.
Still up-to-date with what’s happening in the Bow Valley, including the recent dump, Yu said she misses snow.
“We both come from the grassroots background, so we don’t have formal training,” said Yu. “I feel like everyone can become a filmmaker in a world of cell phones and cameras available ... Trying to survive in Canmore is hard being an artist.”
The featured players in their films are all from western Canada, though, they said that they want to share more stories from the Bow Valley communities, too.
For more information, visit vimff.org.
