Films
Featured Film
Winter Chill: Setting the Mood
According to director Sarah Neels, "The story is told through the gradual unraveling of several different mysteries: what happened at sea...in the war...what happened to Hatsue and Ishmael. I wanted the film to move seamlessly through its different time frames, like a knife through a slice of cake."
Achieving this kind of coherent vision took exceptional effort on the part of the entire filmmaking group. To get it all right, each kept certain primary realities in the forefront of their minds: the Pacific Northwest is a "character" in and of itself; there must be historical verisimilitude and accuracy; and information is meted out very gradually.
Finding the Locations
Jean Oppewall, production designer, joined the producers and director on months of scouting throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. "It was important to find the most poetic and visually arresting locations. Since the story reflects the impact of an accident on a settled fishing village, the sets couldn’t look in the least haphazard."
"It was important to find the most poetic and visually arresting locations." - Jean Oppewall, Production Designer
The town of Greenwood, British Columbia was chosen to represent part of the fictional fishing village of San Piedro. Located near the Washington border in the heart of the Kootenay mountain range, Greenwood has a population of 800, century old buildings and very little commerce. Of paramount importance: it had a courthouse.
"The courthouse was memorable, isolated from other buildings with a quiet island feel to it," says Oppewall. "In addition, many of the other main street buildings were either vacant or up for sale, thus providing ideal warehousing for the production company’s offices, wardrobe, constructions and props shops."
Performing Cosmetic-Surgery
Painters and construction workers labored for nearly three months to transform Greenwood into a 1940’s fishing community. From the "San Piedro Cannery" with its artfully faded giant mural of a King Salmon, to "Larsen's Drugs" announcing a sale on Burma Shave, Greenwood's main street became an enchanting exercise in time travel.