Thompson Rivers University’s Student Union partnered with Sun Peaks Freestyle Club to show the ski film “The Land of Giants” at the Paramount Theatre on November 16.
“What if, instead of focusing on the human element, we took a closer look at the mountains themselves?” The Matchstick Productions film follows some of the ‘best skiers’ as they take on ‘unbelievable conditions’ at different mountains from around the world, including Fitzsimmons Range and Kitimat Range in BC, Canada.
Samiul Khan, Vice President Internal of the Entertainment Committee at TRUSU, said they have been organizing this yearly event with the Sun Peaks Freestyle Club three months in advance, just in time for the skiing season. The organization of the event started with choosing the film, which first premiered in October of this year. They were able to display it at the Paramount Theatre by requesting to host a show on the Matchstick Productions website.
In comparison with other events TRUSU has organized like the “Outdoor Movie Night”, this evening targets ski and adventure enthusiasts.
The ski movie night event started five years ago in Sun Peaks as a way to fundraise the club’s programs. Last year they decided to partner with TRUSU and bring the event to Kamloops as a way to grow their audience. They sold out their tickets then and did it again this year.
“It’s a really good thing! I like that all the money stays in Kamloops, some of it goes to the Freestyle Program and some goes to the [university] students.” Said Travis Bowen, a member of the board at the Sun Peaks Freestyle Club. “Stuff like this goes right towards our programs. This year we are going to see some new fencing on our mogul’s course, we’ll be getting a new snowboard… It helps us run these programs for the kids.”
Half of the proceeds of the ticket sales are destined to fund programs at the freestyle club, while the rest go to Financial Awards at TRU, to fund a scholarship for the Adventure program.
This year, the Sun Peaks Freestyle Club has 120 kids in its programs between snowboarders and skiers. The club will be hosting the Sun Peaks Canada Cup alongside Sun Peaks Resort and Freestyle Canada from February 1st to February 4th, 2024. This is a national competition that seeks to prepare athletes for the international stage.
“Since [the event] is very adventure student-focused, we would go to different Adventure classes and tell them about the event and encourage them to go,” said Khan, who explained the organization process of the ski movie night. “We wanted to ensure that the scholarship was funded throughout this event, not just like a movie night that doesn’t have greater benefits coming out of it.”
According to Khan, one of the biggest challenges was the lack of snow at the beginning of the season, which prevented the freestyle club from starting their classes and could have also affected ticket sales.
“We were kind of worried about the ticket sales in the beginning, but today we were surprised by maxing out.” Said Khan, explaining that these kinds of events go along with the weather.
They sold around 482 tickets, charging ten dollars for TRU students and fifteen dollars for the general public.
The next event TRUSU is organizing is the “Winter Fest” on November 22nd. The holiday-themed event will have different activities like live performances, marshmallow roasting, a card station, and lighting up the 60-foot Christmas Tree.
Published by Lara Romero Iglesias
