FILE PHOTO - Mila Bagundol, left, and Robert Kelly play pickleball at the Riverside Park courts on Monday, May 7, 2018.
(SHELBY THEVENOT / iNFOnews.ca)
December 10, 2019 - 4:59 PM
A Kamloops filmmaker has been awarded a $20,000 grant by Telus Storyhive to produce the first episode of a potential local web series dedicated to some of the not-so mainstream sports of Kamloops.
Jennifer Stahn is the project lead behind the series, The Participant. She was inspired to dedicate the first episode and pilot to pickleball after realizing over time, how much the sport has grown locally in the community.
The web series will have the host, Liam Hall, talk about the sport and also try it out himself so viewers can see the raw reaction and experience of what the sport is actually like. The web series also hopes to highlight other sports including horseshoes, lawn bowling, and dragon boat racing.
“There are so many things done locally and what we are trying to do is pick out the sports that are usually considered the more ‘senior sports’ and show that they are not just for seniors,” Stahn says. “They are a little bit competitive…fun and insanely and weirdly popular in Kamloops.”
Stahn, who was worked and lived in the community for several years, says in her personal and work experience she has seen these sports grow in popularity.
“Pickleball was one those (sports) whenever it came up everybody was like ‘what the hell is pickleball and why is it a thing?’” she says. “It just always stuck with me because I’ve noticed how it was growing around town.”
Another theme of the series will be to highlight the diverse options of recreational sports in the community.
“Being outside and having fun is such an important part of life regardless of age is a subtle message in the series,” she says.
In total, 40 teams in B.C. and Alberta were provided with $20,000 to produce a pilot episode for a web series. The final cut is due mid-June and an announcement by Storyhive will come in August for the teams selected to receive more funding to continue with their web series.
One team from B.C. and Alberta will be awarded with $60,000 each.
Stahn also received funding from Telus Storyhive for another documentary, Sit. Stay. Search., which features the search dogs of Kamloops and tells the story of the dogs attempting to achieve search dog validation. Stahn says the majority of filming has already been completed for this film and they will begin to move into the post-production stage soon.
A third documentary, UNFOUND: The Burden of a SAR Volunteer, has yet to receive funding and is still in the pre-production phase, Stahn says.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Karen Edwards or call (250) 819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2019