Trevor Mack

Trevor Mack (born June 28, 1992) is a Tsilhqot'in, Dakelh, Canadian filmmaker, writer, photographer and former Crashed Ice extreme sports athlete.

Trevor Mack
Trevor Mack in 2017
Trevor Mack, left, filming 'The Wild Ones' in the Tsilhqot'in community of Xeni Gwet'in (2017).
Born
Trevor Ryan Mack

(1992-06-28) June 28, 1992
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation(s)Film Director, Film Producer, Activist
Years active2010-present
Notable workThe Blanketing, Clouds of Autumn, ʔEtsu (Grandmother), In the Valley of Wild Horses, Portraits from a Fire
AwardsB.C. Emerging Filmmaker, 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival

Best Director, 2021 American Indian Film Festival

One to Watch, 2021 Vancouver Film Critics Circle

Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award, 2021 Indiescreen Awards

Best Director, 2022 Leo Awards
Websitewww.trevormack.ca

He is best known for writing, directing, and producing the short films The Blanketing,[1][2] Clouds of Autumn[3] and In the Valley of Wild Horses.[4] His debut feature-length film Portraits from a Fire made its world premiere at the 2021 Atlantic International Film Festival[5] and was the first ever narrative feature film written and directed by a Tsilhqot'in filmmaker.

He competed in the Canadian tour of the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championships from 2011 to 2015.

Film career

At 15 years old, Mack started his pursuit in film by editing together footage from the popular Xbox video game series Halo to create montages in which he posted to on-line forums and YouTube. As he gained popularity with his Halo montages, he helped co-found a freelance video editing, motion graphics, and videography group called 'Viral Design' that produced product promotional videos for companies such as Red Bull, SteelSeries, and Gunnar Optiks.[6]

In 2011, Mack enrolled in the 'Motion Picture Arts' film program at Capilano University in North Vancouver, BC. Having failed his first year, Mack dropped out in his second year of courses.

The day after he dropped out of film school he started working with the Provincial Health Services Authority in a suicide-awareness pilot program titled 'Cuystwi'. Throughout the several years of working on the project, Mack collaborated with Indigenous filmmakers such as Damien Bouchard, Amanda Strong, and Asia Youngman. The filmmakers would routinely travel to reserve communities in British Columbia that registered for the pilot program to teach children how to express themselves through filmmaking.[7]

The Blanketing (2013)

The Blanketing is a fictional, alternative-history story that combines two distinct and crucial events within the Tsilhqot'in-Colonial historical canon. Both the 1864 Tsilhqot'in War and 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic were combined, narratively, to showcase how devastating the events were towards the Tsilhqot'in people. Yet, the film ends on uplifting and defying imagery—a theme Mack would continually bring to his future films. In the fall of 2011, Mack started a Crowd funding campaign asking for funds for his first short film The Blanketing. After 10 months of development and pre-production he began principal photography in the summer of 2012.[8]

After he premiered the short film in his home town of Williams Lake, British Columbia on May 3, 2013, the short film was accepted into the following film festivals:[9]

Clouds of Autumn (2015)

Clouds of Autumn follows a brother and sister whose carefree childhood in a Tsilhqot'in community is torn apart when the sister is forced to attend a Canadian residential school in the early 1970s.

Interestingly, Mack collaborated with non-Indigenous filmmaker Matthew Taylor Blais, whom Mack was roommates with at the time. The purpose of the collaboration was to learn about one another's culture by deliberately telling such a controversial story together.

Mack's maternal grandmother gave birth to 13 children, 10 of whom—including his mother—were taken away to Canadian residential schools in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. Some were as young as 6 years old when they were taken away for the entire school year.

After receiving a production grant from Canada Council for the Arts, Mack started principal photography for Clouds of Autumn in August 2014.[10] The film had its North American premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival[11] and also screened at the following festivals, among others:

In October 2015, the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival awarded 'Best Canadian Short Drama' to Clouds of Autumn.[17][18]

In September 2016, Festival Cine Alter'Natif awarded 'Prix Jeunesse' to Clouds of Autumn[19]

In November 2016, the Air Canada EnRoute Film Festival awarded 'Achievement in Cinematography' to Clouds of Autumn.[20]

ʔEtsu (Grandmother) (2017)

With only a $500 budget, Mack collaborated with actor Elias Louie (Clouds of Autumn) in the summer of 2017. The short film is a POV-styled portrait of child abuse and family relations on an isolated reserve in Canada. The film premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival[21] and played at the 2017 Vancouver International Film Festival.[22]

In The Valley of Wild Horses (2018)

Partnering with the Xeni Gwe'tin First Nations, a community and part of the Tsilhqot'in nation, Mack co-directed the short documentary with fellow Indigenous filmmaker Asia Youngman. The film follows the Xeni Gwet'in Youth Wagon trip, a 200-km, 8-day horse-and-wagon trip beginning from Nemiah Valley and ending at Williams Lake. The film premiered at the 2018 Vancouver International Film Festival, among others:

  • 2019 Las Cruces International Film Festival[23]
  • 2019 Māoriland Film Festival
  • 2019 Salt Spring Film Festival
  • 2019 Powell River Film Festival

Portraits from a Fire (2021)
Trevor Mack, center, directing on the set of Portraits from a Fire.

Portraits from a Fire is Trevor Mack's debut feature-length film. The project was a collaboration between Mack and writers Manny Mahal and Derek Vermillion, as well as with cinematographer Kaayla Wachell and producers Kate Kroll and Rylan Friday. The inception of the story came from Mack's healing process after being assaulted and mugged in downtown Vancouver in 2016. Portraits from a Fire is a coming-of-age film following an eccentric misfit named Tyler who spends his days recording and vlogging his Indigenous community and hanging out with his grandparents. That is until he meets Aaron—an older, influential teenager who pushes him to show his latest work about his family to the community, leading to a reckoning between the past and the future, life and death, parents and son. The film made its world premiere at the 2021 Atlantic International Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as well as played in the following festivals:

  • 2021 FIN Atlantic International Film Festival[24]
  • 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival[25]
  • 2021 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
  • 2021 Edmonton International Film Festival
  • 2021 American Indian Film Festival
  • 2021 Cinéfest Sudbury Film Festival[26]
  • 2022 Canada China International Film Festival
  • 2022 Virginia Film Festival[27]
  • 2022 Shining Mountains Film Festival[28]

As of January 2023, Portraits from a Fire has accumulated 15 awards:

  • Best Feature Film, 2021 Edmonton International Film Festival
  • Best B.C. Film & B.C. Emerging Filmmaker Award: Trevor Mack, 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival
  • Best Director: Trevor Mack & Best Supporting Actor: Asivak Koostachin, 2021 American Indian Film Festival
  • Best Script, 2021 Canada China International Film Festival
  • Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award: Kate Kroll, Rylan Friday, Trevor Mack, 2021 Indiescreen Awards
  • Best Picture & Best Direction & Best Cinematography & Best Score & Best Editing, 2022 Leo Awards
  • Best Picture & One to Watch: Trevor Mack, 2022 Vancouver Film Critics Circle
  • Best Feature Film, 2022 Shining Mountains Film Festival

Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championships
Trevor Mack competing during the 2014 Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

While also producing his first short films, Mack was simultaneously competing in the Canadian tour of the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championships. From 2011 to 2015, Red Bull Crashed Ice hosted Canadian tours of the World Championships in Quebec City, Niagara Falls, and Edmonton.

Psychedelic Plant Medicine Activism

Mack has credited his latest film work on his experiences with Psychedelic plant medicine, namely psilocybin mushrooms, Lsd, and Yopo.

On June 20, 2021, Mack was invited to speak about alongside famed author and professor Wade Davis, plant medicine teacher Jazmin Pirozek, and Kim Haxton for the inaugural World Psychedelics Day, which featured an eclectic roster of talks with speakers such as Dr. Dennis McKenna, Paul Stamets, Dr. Gabor Mate, Dr. Andrew Weil, and Alex and Allyson Grey. The panel Mack spoke to was titled 'Indigenous Sovereignty & Plant Medicines'.

References
  1. imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival Archived 2013-12-15 at archive.today, The Blanketing official page.
  2. Toronto Film Scene, 'The Blanketing' review (October 19, 2013)
  3. Toronto International Film Festival, Clouds of Autumn official page.
  4. Features, Emilee Gilpin in; Entertainment; October 12th 2018, Culture | (2018-10-12). "Emerging Indigenous filmmakers feature Indigenous cowboys of B.C. 'In the Valley of Wild Horses' [VIDEO]". National Observer. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  5. "Portraits from a Fire - FIN Atlantic International Film Festival". program.finfestival.ca. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
  6. Native Mens Magazine Archived 2013-10-10 at the Wayback Machine, The Q&A with Trevor Mack (2013)
  7. "About". Trevor Mack. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  8. WL Tribune, Trevor Mack seeks support for new film project (May 2nd, 2012)
  9. WL Tribune, Spend an evening with local filmmaker Trevor Mack (April 26th, 2013)
  10. Urban Native Magazine Archived 2015-02-06 at the Wayback Machine, Trevor Mack talks Clouds of Autumn (July 25th, 2014)
  11. Toronto International Film Festival Film Portal 'Clouds of Autumn'
  12. Vancouver International Film Festival Film Portal, 'Clouds of Autumn'
  13. Ottawa International Film Festival Film Portal Archived 2015-11-19 at the Wayback Machine, 'Clouds of Autumn'
  14. Tacoma Film Festival Youtube Channel, 'Clouds of Autumn' Tacoma Film Festival Trailer (Youtube)
  15. National Screen Institute, Lineup unveiled for Whistler Film Festival's 15th anniversary celebration
  16. imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival Film Portal Archived 2015-11-19 at the Wayback Machine, 'Clouds of Autumn'
  17. ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival Archived 2015-11-19 at the Wayback Machine, 'imagineNATIVE 2015 Award Winners'
  18. WL Tribune, Clouds of Autumn a winner (October 21st, 2015)
  19. "Awards". Trevor Mack. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  20. Air Canada EnRoute Film Festival
  21. "Grandmother". www.tiff.net. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  22. "Left to Their Own Devices". www.viff.org. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  23. "In The Valley Of Wild Horses". Las Cruces International Film Festival. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  25. "VIFF | Portraits From a Fire". viff.org. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  26. "Portraits From a Fire | Portraits From a Fire | Copy of Cinéfest Sudbury SilverCity 2021". watch.eventive.org. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  27. "Portraits From a Fire | Division for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion". dei.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  28. "Shining Mountains Film Festival". Shining Mountains Film Festival. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
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