P.G. filmmakers in StoryHive competition
Prince George has filmmakers on the ballot for the latest StoryHive competition. The ones with the most online votes advance towards the grand prize: funding and mentorship for the films they intend to make.
Two of the city’s aspiring filmmakers are prominent in the field of almost 300 competitors. There is a B.C. pool and an Alberta pool in the StoryHive process. Kim Feragen and Daniel Stark are entered on the B.C. side for their proposed film projects The Pass and The Logging Road respectively.
Both have successfully completed films in the past, so they are somewhat new to the field but not without their track records.
Both are active collaborators in the burgeoning local film industry, making them young pioneers in that sense.
Since voters are allowed to tap up to five films per day (per online devise) in the StoryHive competition, Feragen and Stark are keen to advance together on to the next round. They are hoping to obtain resources for their own films, but they are also hoping northern B.C. gets to develop its cinematic sector in general.
“This film will enable us to take what we have learned on previous projects and put it to good use,” said Feragen who was the director of the dramatic short-film Final Breath that went deep in a previous StoryHive competition. She was also involved in the production of the feature-length new movie The Doctor’s Case that filled the Prince George Playhouse during the Cinema CNC Film Festival and made its world premiere at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival.
She added, “I am going through Storyhive again because it enables our team to work with working professionals in the film industry. We gain experience and knowledge with each film we work on. The goal is to keep advancing our knowledge and to take what we have learned and make each project better than the last.”
StoryHive is a Telus initiative that not only funds but also instills professional development into the B.C./Alberta screen arts industry. A regular slate of competitions rotates focus on music videos, shortfilms, online programs and other genres that ultimately uplift the entire film, television, online, and gaming sectors plus all the spinoff industries like writing, music, costume design, set building, camera operation, sound and lighting effects, and the rest of the collaborative fields that come together in this multidimensional form of art.
“Believe it or not, there are not a ton of ways to get short films funded in northern B.C.,” said Stark. “StoryHive is a funding opportunity that comes around only a few times a year and it would be ridiculous to pass it up. Should we be awarded the funding, StoryHive will mentor us, help with distribution and it all adds some legitimacy to the effort. No-budget filmmaking is the best and we’ve been doing it our whole lives, but there is only so much you can do with it.”
Stark is affiliated with production companies like Picaroon Pictures and 6ix Sigma. He has been involved in film projects like the comedic horror short-film Behind The Reds, also the The Indian Agent music video in collaboration with musicians Kym Gouchie and Black Spruce Bog, plus the music video for Adrian Glynn’s song The Kind That Keeps U Up, as well as the TV series Geoff & The Ninja. All of these projects have in some way been run through the StoryHive process, which insists upon a certain level of organization and creative structure in order to be eligible.
“As a filmmaker, this film (The Logging Road) represents a step in a more mature narrative direction,” Stark said. “I’ve made so many comedy films, some horror films and at 6ix Sigma Productions we are making everything from sports documentaries to music videos. This will be the first time we’ve attempted something so serious and personal to us and so many of our friends.”
His proposed film is a fictionalized dramatic examination of the Highway Of Tears.
Feragen’s proposal for The Pass would tell a story of people trying to make sense of themselves and society after a mysterious wiping of everyone’s memories in a futuristic setting.
Both these proposals are on the voting list at
Voting closes Friday at noon.