VIMFF November Series: Environmental Show – The Radicals, Centennial Theatre, Nov. 14, 6:30 p.m. followed by panel discussion. For more details visit vimff.org/the-radicals.
The word radical comes from the Latin word “radix” meaning root and for snowboarder-turned-filmmaker Tamo Campos, the semantic nuance of the word radical is positive, meaning to go to the extreme.
But when Campos started seeing the words radical and extremists used to describe activists, those protesting environmental degradation, in a negative sense, he wanted to reclaim these words.
“In the snowboarding world, those words meant great things,” Campos said. “Those are positive words.”
This year, Campos via his advocacy group Beyond Boarding collaborated to make a film called The Radicals that weaves the stories of First Nations desperately trying to rebuild fish habitats and stop the further destruction of their land with footage of the pristine landscapes that extreme snowboarders traverse.
As the film’s writers started thinking more about the word “radical” and its definition, they saw how the First Nations were rooted in their communities, fighting for their traditional lands.
“When you look at the word, it suggests to go deep into an issue, basically, to be a radical – and it’s exactly what we need right now with some of the issues we face, we need a deep-rooted solution, we need a systemic solution, we don’t need to go just on the surface,” he said. “I think reclaiming that word is really important.”
The Radicals will be shown at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) on Nov. 14 at Centennial Theatre and it will feature four First Nations groups that have been fighting to protect their environments and four snowboarders who are working with these people to raise awareness about their environmental and cultural concerns.
The Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, which takes place in North Vancouver and Vancouver, includes films, multimedia presentations, photo exhibits, workshops and seminars over nine days, but it also includes an educational component.
The Radicals takes its audience to four locations where snowboarders are working with First Nations in B.C. to highlight environmental concerns – the damming of Bridge River where the Xwisten people live, mining in the First Nations community of Iskut in northern B.C., fish farming in the Broughton Archipelego, and the delicate ecosystem in Haida Gwaii.
Campos is joined by professional snowboarders Marie France Roy, Jasper Snow Rosen and Meghann O’Brien, who is now a Haida/Kwakwaka’wakw weaver, to tell these stories.
Campos said the film is meant to challenge the outdoor sports community to take responsibility for the environment.
“We get to take so much from the outdoors, our fun, our hobbies, our good times, but what is our relationship back and how can we turn that into a reciprocal relationship,” he said.
Before they started making the film, the snowboarders already had relationships with these First Nations communities and Campos said they had story consultants from each community to make sure they were telling their stories.
“I hope this film creates a deep responsibility to those stories, to those communities, because those issues aren’t going away either,” Campos said.
Campos said he doesn’t want to make films for entertainment, but at times it’s hard to make an impact because there are so many documentaries – the audience might be moved, but a week later, they’ve seen 20 other things on their iPhone, and have forgotten.
The Radicals draws on its audience’s emotions, showing what the First Nations communities are sacrificing for the environment, and Campos wants the film to also be a call to action for the audience.
After the film, a panel will discuss environmental and conservation issues facing the West Coast – the panel will consist of The Radicals co-director Brian Hockenstein, snowboarder and weaver Meghann O’Brien, director Josh Thome whose film Hear the Call: Salmon Nation is screening in conjunction with The Radicals, and Chief Robert Chamberlin, chief councillor of Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation.
Campos, who co-directed of The Radicals with Hockenstein, grew up in North Vancouver close to the Centennial Theatre. Campos’ mother would joke that Grouse Mountain was his “babysitter,” Campos said, and while in high school at Handsworth Secondary, he was on the mountain after school almost every day.
Campos has been making documentaries for eight years. He was used to being in front of the lens for much of his life since he was a sponsored snowboarder starting from the age of 11.
Campos’ whole world was snowboarding, and even as the grandson of David Suzuki, he felt disconnected from the responsibilities his sport carried. Snowboarding took him to some “amazing places,” he said, like Chile, where his father is from. But it was on a trip to South America to snowboard 10 years ago when Campos started realizing the impact that climate change was having on the environment where he spent much of his time.
“As snowboarders we get to go out on the mountains – have these beautiful experiences in the outdoors – we know the importance of a cold winter, a good snowfall, all these things that are drastically changing with climate change, we’re seeing it first-hand,” Campos said.
The area he was in, in Velen, Peru, had just witnessed catastrophic flooding because of snow melting on the Andes, almost four months of inundation when locals lived on their roofs waiting for the waters to recede. He also saw how lower-income people were more affected as wealthier people lived out of the flood zones, and the massive health impact on them as open sewage mixed with the flood waters.
“I got to meet communities that were being literally displaced by melting snow in the Andes,” Campos said. “It was one of those things that really woke me up.”
He was seeing the “human face of climate change,” and it changed his life forever.
“I came back and said we have to do something about this,” Campos said.
His group, Beyond Boarding, started raising awareness through film and challenged and engaged the outdoor sports community about social and environmental issues. Campos didn’t go to film school but, rather, he “learned on the road,” travelling in his cooking-oil-fuelled camper with fellow boarders.
“I grew up in the snowboard community – I have a responsibility to tell these stories in the snowboard community and that’s why we try to merge our environmental activism with our snowboard community,” he said.
The Beyond Boarding collective was able to make this film in just eight months because they had many long-term relationships with these communities and the activists fighting for their surroundings.
This will be the first big screening of The Radicals – it was also shown at the Museum of Vancouver in conjunction with of the current Haida Now exhibit.
For more information about The Radicals, go to vimff.org/the-radicals.
VIMFF North Vancouver schedule at Centennial Theatre:
Nov. 14: The Radicals, co-directed by Tamo Campos and Brian Hockenstein, will have its first big screening.
Nov. 15: Arc’teryx Ski Show features B.C. skiers and sisters, Izzy and Zoya Lynch, who directed the short film, Kindred. The U.S./Canada co-production Hoji is the main film that night, with an introduction by extreme skier from Canmore, Alta., Eric “Hoji” Hjorleifson.
Nov. 13 and 16: Reel Rock 13 show includes Age of Ondra, Up to Speed, Queen Maud Land, The Valley of the Moon. For more information, go to vimff.org/reel-rock-13.
