iim 1 shot on Mount Seymour

Jan-Chriation Sorensen ..
News Reporter ;

“THE cougar, felis: concolor, i is:
known by a number of names
~~ puma, mountain lion, cata-
mount and panther ; among
them. 2.6

But don’t worry too much about

° formalities — “Roxy” and “Kaos” will
do just fine for these two cubs.

The young. sister-b brother, cougar
combo are the stars of the documen-
tary: film’ Cougar. Crossings that was
shot atop Mount Seymour this spring.

2: Billed “as a” coming-of-age : story
about a of cougars abandoned by
the mother,’ the film is punctuated

with several vignettes which give the.

film an in-depth, 60 Minstes-type feel.
One follows a coroner investigating a
: possible : death by. cougar. attack;

another focuses on the California State
Senate’s  anti-couger: kil} legislation; ©
another follows a crew of scientists as -
ie and tag one of |:

they track,
the felines in’o
mation about the 51

ler to gain more infor
cies.

‘Maple | Ridge fi mmaker Matthew :
Todd Paproskd —who wrote, directed ©.
and ‘produced the project —-and.a.

crew of 20 mostly North Shore grips,
electricians and camerapeople shot the
45-minute ; film’ over.-a. seven-week

period, ‘using both 16°mm and Beta :

P film and video formats.

's Among the local talent lending aS

id was:;jne -North-Shore

ry

eraman and director of photogra-

phy Glenn Taylor, Paproski and Tay!
id the project years ago whe
both were on a shoot together,

_ connection,”

- Snow’ and weather. to:

- The film gave Paproski a chance to
highlight the devastating impact. that
the . Feline Immunodeficiency virus
(FIV: ) is having on the big cat popula-

tion. It's the animal equivalent of
‘HIV, the disease that causes AIDS in

humans, and it’s just as deadly.

“It gives (humans and cou gars) a
said Paproskr “Tt
became a real personal thing to us. It

“was'a testament to not only friends

lost to AIDS but I've lost several rela-
tives to cancer and I feel this film just
is a real tribute to life. And we have to
protect all life.”

To keep costs manageable, ihey
chose Mount Seymour to double for

“Maunt. Washington, on Northern
“Vancouver Island.» ~

“We had to create the setting ofa
‘mountain in: Northern. Vancouver ©

Istand. We needed to show extreme

ify what

(the cubs) have to survive ve through
‘Abandoned by their mother as
only cubs, Roxy arid Kaos were hand-

raised ‘in ‘captivity. Mount Seymour °
was the site of their: first. encounter -

with snow. “What you see cf them on

film —° their. tender ; and ‘nervous
_ experience of going down an ice cliff.

by a waterfall, for example — was true.

We were very lucky to capture that,”
~ said Paproski.°~*..-

«. Vancouver Island ‘is home to ‘the

e most dense congar ‘population in the:
“entire world. It’s believed that. over -
.1,000 of the big cats have homes in ©

the. mountains.” there. . Traditional

cougar -
stretched from: Argentina to Alaska.

“However, victiinized by overhunting,
“loss ‘of habitat. throug
‘poaching, cougars are now restricted

logging and

breeding: grounds - once

DINING GUIDE: 16

MATTHEW Todd Paproski takes a breather with cubs Roxy, lett, and Kaos, during the filming | of the
documentary Cougar Croszings, atop Mount Seymour lest spring. ‘

to small pockets in the Pacific -
Northwest. About 7,000 of the felines _

are currently believed to live in B.C.
and Alberta...
Paproski’s initial plan was to centre

-the film around. Kaos, making it a

story of a solitary orphan on his own
¢ wild. When Paproski saw the

NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY —

December 31° 6pm-10pm:_
:» Gome celebrate New Year's Eve with family and friends at Ice Sports North Shore.
” Skate in our winter-decorated rink, and enjoy crafts and activities for the kids

_c including movies, stick and puck, pasta dinner and more. Call to reserve.

; Public skate i in'magical winter wonderland theme.
December 29 - > danuary 2. ‘Stil ‘ted, b available for partis or r groups

two cubs together, however, he quick
ly decided to shift gears.

“We. brought them out. and we
decided it was so cute watching them ~
“be” » produced: ;

interact with each other that we filmed

both of them. And it became their.
» story — of their relationship as they
try to depend on each other and try to

‘ get through life.”.

‘Cougar Chasing | is “the first i in a a
series of planned documentary films
on different ira Cane. t will
_ Paproski’s
TVnewmedia.com cotpan Paproski

is currendly hard at work writing and
planning the next segment, on wolves

2611 Move! Saysiowr
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