Next Thursday and Friday, Arrowtown’s Dorothy Browns is hosting screenings of Weak Layers, which co-writer, director and actor Katie Burrell describes as "an ode to mountain towns in general, and an ode to a ski season".
Burrell, a Canadian comedian who grew up freeskiing, plays Cleo Brown, a ski town local in her 30s living the dream, till she’s not.
Evicted from her home and living in a van, she takes on the adventure industry’s elite in a bid to win life-changing money in an adventure film competition — finding surprising love and loss along the way.
The female-led feature film — selected for both the Banff Mountain Film Festival and the Whistler Film Festival — stars Hollywood names such as Neal Bledsoe (A Soldier’s Revenge), Jadyn Wong (Scorpion), and Evan Jonigkeit (X-Men: Days of Future Past), with cameo appearances from world-famous skiers, including Cody Townsend, Elyse Saugstad and Jonny Moseley.
Burrell tells Mountain Scene she and co-writer Andrew Ladd, who grew up ski racing, drew on their shared ski town experiences when they wrote the script for what’s described as a comedy championing the underdog.
It’s also relatable for anyone who’s ever lived in a ski town, or worked in the industry.
"There’s an element of heart to the story the trailer doesn’t really do justice and really celebrate people that dedicate their lives to skiing and living in ski towns," she says.
"A lot of feedback from some older members of the audience is, ‘oh my god, the nostalgia, the years I did in my early 20s in a ski season, this movie pulled on my heartstrings because it just brought me back to that era of my life’.
"Then the younger crowds are like, ‘oh my god, this is so me, this is so relatable’."
One such scene may well be an epic house party — which leaves the pad trashed — shot in someone’s actual home.
The idea came from one of the producers, Steven Siig, whose mate was a contractor in Tahoe and in the middle of gutting the house for a full reno.
"And Siig had this idea to ask ... if we could shoot this scene in the middle of the gut."
The owners signed it off, so the crew moved in and staged a party for the ages, including constructing indoor jumps, bringing in snow, crashing through (fake) windows and drywall.
"We really did get in there and make the most of it," Burrell laughs.
She’s on her way to Wānaka and Arrowtown next week — after each screening she hosts a Q&A session with the audience — and it’ll be the first time she’s visited New Zealand.
"I’m so excited — I have lots of friends that are Kiwis, but only from meeting them over in DC."
While she doesn’t have much downtime, she’s hoping she might be able to check out Milford Sound and squeeze in a couple of runs at Cardrona Alpine Resort, which is presenting the tour along with SnowsBest.com and icebreaker.
That’s in line with her "professional leisure athlete" status.
"I think there was a time where it was feeling like — and it still is, in some circles — that everything was just getting crazier and crazier and more exposed and more dangerous and going harder.
"The leisure athlete movement is really just a counter-culture movement to the super-pros and allowing yourself to just enjoy the sports we all enjoy for exactly how you need to enjoy them.
"It’s really about reclaiming your relationship with sport and ... whatever you do, in a way that makes you feel like you’re loving it ... and you’re not comparing yourself to the kind of people you should never compare yourself to."
Limited tickets remain for Wednesday’s screening of Weak Layers at Ruby’s Cinema, in Wānaka, at 5.45pm, and Thursday and Friday’s screenings at Arrowtown’s Dorothy Browns, from 5.30pm — tickets cost $35 plus fees, via Humanitix
