Champions of the Wild, 6
and 10 p.m. Mondays,
on Discovery Channei

SHOOTING a doc-
umentary on the
American bald eagle
for Champions of the
Wild was a home-
coming of sorts for
Peter von Puttkamer.

Asa child, the 42-vear-
old Whytecliffe res
spent summers on his fami-
ly’s property at Paradise Valley near Squamish,
now heme to the North Vancouver Schoo!
District’s Outdoor Schoo! and the B.C. Lions
Ciub’s Easter Seal Camp.

For Von Puttkamer, who has won awards for
films produced for and about the First Nations,
the return to the area brought back memories
of salmon barbecues with Chief Simon Baker.

The area is home to the greatest gathering
of bald eagles in Norch America. Every winter,
as many as 3,700 eagles gather along the shores
of the Squamish River, from the Mamquam to
the Cheakamus River, to feed on spawning
salmon.

Von Putckamer wrote, filmed and edited the
Champions of the Wild segment on the bald
eagle, which aired earlier this fall. The show
profiled Nanaimo veterinarian Ken Langelier
who donates time and moncy to the rehabilita-

ars with eagles

tion of sick or injured cagles.
Each week, the series profiles a
different “champion of the wild,”
a conservationist, wildlite ialo-
gist or environmental activist who
works to preserve and protect var-
ious members of the animal king-
dom. The Dec. 13 season-ender
is on Karelian bear dogs.
Produced by Omni Film
Productions in association with
Telefilm Canada and other film
partners, the series will enter its
fourth year next fall.
Von Puttkamer, who pro-
duced owo episodes for the cur-
rent season and is working on two for the next,
says the show’s stars don’t always feel comfort-
able wearing the mantle of “champion.”
“They tend to be really, really humble,” says
Jon Puttkamer of men like scientist Jim
Cosgrove, whose life study has been the behav-
iour and extraordinary life cycle of the Giant
Pacific Octopus. “It’s a challenge to get them
to talk about themselves,”
Von Puttkamer had no trouble getting the
subjects of another recent project to open up.
The filmmaker directed the humorous docu-
mentary Sasquatch Odvsey about four real-life
Bigfoot hunters, including Rene Dahinden of
Kokanee beer commercial fame. The film was
named Best Foreign Documentary at the New
York International Independent Film Festival in
September and will air on VTV next spring.
-— Layne Christensen

Foss wins B.C. play award

yne Christensen
": News Reporter
wyne@nsnews.com
LUCAS Foss looked
inside himself and
found inspiration for
> av award- -winning’
play.
Are;
- selloz, Foss was. recognized
last weekend by: Theatre BC,
which’ presented him with a
pecial merit award and $750

cash for his play, Little Voices.
Theatre BC, a Victoria-

- based non-profit organiza- |

tion that. aims promote
and develop community the-
aire throughout the province

--and the Yukon, presented the’

rd: as part. of its llth

tered clinical coun-

annual Canadian National
Playwriting Competition.

The organization received
115 submissions from all
parts of Canada, which were
reviewed by a panel of
judges.

Foss, 47, described his
winning entry as “a mono-
logue about the insidious
dynamic in our lives that is

‘our resistance to moving for-

ward in life.”
Foss works at Capilano

. College, where he works with

students with disabilities, and
runs his own counselling
practice. Earlier this year, he
took a one year’s personal
leave from from the college
to pursue writing and acting.

Last week, he appeared in
the one-person show, Fever,

directed by Scott Swan, at
West Van’s Music Box (for-
merly Argyle House).

Little Voices is Foss’ first
piece of writing for the stage.

As part of the award,
Theatre BC, in partnership
with Western Canada
Theatre, has invited Foss and
the two other award winners
to the New Play Festival in
Kamloops this April, where
the winning scripts will be
developed by a professional
director and actors.

The seven award finalists,
including Maureen Robinson
of North Vancouver, will
have their scripts discussed at
a roundtable session.

Foss hopes to present and
star in his one-man Play in’
the new year.

EWS photo Julle iverson

PETER von Puitkamer, who has won awards for his short dramas and documen-
taries, directs epiecdes of the wildiife series Champions of ihe Wild. —

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