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Spend an evening with local filmmaker Trevor Mack

The last event of the Williams Lake Film Club is different, and it is special.
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A scene from The Blanketing.

The last event of the Williams Lake Film Club is different, and it is special.

“An Evening with Trevor Mack” will be presented at the Gibraltar Room on Friday, May 3 at 7 p.m. Trevor Mack has been called an Indigenous role model.

He is Tsilhqot’in, grew up on Anaham Reserve, graduated from Columneetza High School in Williams Lake and went on to study at Capilano University’s motion picture arts program in Vancouver.

Trevor began video editing at the age of 14. He started with editing videos of people playing the popular video game Halo with montages accompanied by music.

Since 2005, his montages have been seen on the internet more than a million times.

And he already has some awards for his work.

His public service announcement film Get Up, Move Up won the $5,000 first-place prize at the First Nations Health Council ‘Active Spirit, Active History contest.

During his growing years Trevor heard many stories being told by his elders and they left a deep impression on him.

He now thinks of himself as a storyteller and he is bursting to tell them.

At Capilano University Trevor started a script for The Blanketing, his very first professional, official short film, the one we will premiere Friday, May 3.

(Really, no one has seen it yet.)

Trevor put his idea for this film on indiegogo.com and shortly after received a phone call from Los Angeles, from a well-known composer who absolutely wanted to write the music to this then idea.

He later did, and you will hear it.

When it came to finding the actors, Trevor put an ad on Craigs List. That is how he met Sean Wei Mah (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee). His first meeting with Sean and his friend William Belleau (Twilight), who turned out to be from Alkali, was at Tim Horton’s and lasted for five hours.

Filling out the star cast is Kawennahere Devery Jacobs (Rhymes for Young Ghouls).

His family helped him find the two road builders, who are being played by Don Wise and Preston Moe, another two locals. Most of the actors will be in attendance on Friday.

So will his family and his friends from Nemiah Valley, where the film was shot, such as Chief Roger William who helped him by providing his own horses for the shooting.

William's daughter, Sierra, plays a role in the film, as does Sheila Mack, a granddaughter of Chiwid.

"I wrote the short film's script in October of 2011 for a script writing class and then fell in love with the script and images in my head so I decided to write more and more drafts and that's when I knew I wanted to make this into reality," Trevor says.

"I started writing it because I recently moved to Vancouver, a long ways from Williams Lake, and started questioning who I was, culturally and with this short film's production I started to discover my culture and who I was through the research I was conducting and questions I was asking."

The evening will showcase the premiere of the short film, which runs in at eight minutes in length.

"And I'll also be showing a behind-the-scenes featurette from the set of The Blanketing's shoot," Trevor says. "I'll be talking about and showing how I started to get into film and the whole production aspect."

Trevor Mack is not only an indigenous role model, he is a role model for any kid who wants to get somewhere, who wants to work with his community and who wants to be part of his community.

Trevor will tell you about his ideas, his accomplishments, his hopes, and his dreams. Trevor is young, just 20, full of passion and zest for life. He is fun … and he also plays some darn good hockey.

He even made it to the finals of Red Bull Crashed Ice in Ottawa, and then he cracked his ankle, darn it. There is always next year, Trevor shrugs it off with a little smile.

Let’s celebrate hope and possibilities together, get dressed up, in our finest, in regalia, just wear what you really want to wear. We will show his videos and films, there will be food after the premiere, refreshments, maybe even fresh bannock. There will be a place with a red carpet where Trevor will pose with you, where all of the actors will be available for photos and autographs.

There will be a Silent Auction for some very special Movie Props, handmade, there will be door prizes, a loonie auction,  and again, there will be lots of fun.

This will be a big thank you to Williams Lake and all his friends from Trevor Mack.

Doors open at 6 p.m. Admission is $10, $5 for kids 12 and under.

Tickets are on sale right now at Red Shreds, The Station House Gallery and Dandelion Living. Tickets will also be available at the door.