Seven local heroes will soon have their amazing abilities unmasked, once a new film comes to light - eight if you count Prince George itself.
The filmmaking team at 6ixSigma Productions took it upon themselves to create a cinematic feature that profiles a set of largely unknown athletes who are some of the world's best at what they do, it just happens to be in sports that aren't on prime-time television.
These sports also happen to be played in locations without a stadium to fill or even a sideline to stand on.
High-octane sports like whitewater paddleboarding, mountain biking and extreme snowmobiling rarely have viewers at all. The unblinking eye of 6ixSigma cameras changed that.
The film is called Hidden Heroes.
Production manager Jason Hamborg called it "an outdoor sport documentary. It's a profile of seven athletes: their stories to a degree, but also tying in the Prince George element to those stories. The biggest thing about Prince George - and it also ties into the hidden side of these heroes - it's not like Whistler or Revelstoke where a sport is associated immediately at the mention of the name. But we have these facilities - the natural area - that support all these sports at really high levels.
"But there's a big difference that sets us apart. Because we have the variations in the geography and the four seasons, it means all of these sports have an equal playing field. We aren't great at one thing, we're great at all these things."
For more than a year, Hamborg and the field filmmaker team of Glenn King, Dan Pousette and Daniel Stark have been rolling film and editing the results. Hamborg said it was through participating themselves in some of these outdoor activities that the group found each other and gelled into a film company. It made Hidden Heroes a passion project. They would each invest countless personal hours to build it, minute by minute, and Saturday night they are unveiling the results.
There were times, though, Hamborg said, when they took turns having their serious doubts the show would ever get to the screen.
"In order to get where these athletes want to be filmed, you have to be able to get into those spots yourself. That's a strenuous workload. These are some of the best in the world at these sports," he explained.
Only once could they utilize the avails of a helicopter. The rest required stamina and strong backs.
The project also got off on the wrong track, but a key voice spoke up.
"We filmed the first couple of interviews with our athletes and when we watched them back, they just fell flat," Hamborg said.
"We were really lucky that one of our team members made an important observation. He said 'That's not my sport. I don't care about their sports at all, but what I could potentially care about is their personal stories.' And thank goodness that was early enough on in the project that we got onto that really good piece of advice. It changed everything. It's a much better film because of that."
Hamborg said the three primary filmmakers were "silent assassins" collecting images worthy enough to represent these seven star athletes and their star terrain.
"Even early into the process - and we are on revision infinity at this point - I was like, 'Dude, this is amazing. This looks brilliant.' And one of our rules was, everything in this film had to be no more than two hours drive away - all local. And I think people will be blown away by what we have in our natural setting here, and also blown away at the very high level of accomplishment people in our community have going on. This is stuff you'd see in the movies, not something you'd see in Prince George."
Well now it actually is in the movies, and more than one.
The seven athletes were each made the star of their own vignette that the City of Prince George and Move Up Prince George sponsored. Those vignettes will be blasted out on municipal social media platforms to show off the area and all it has to offer. But Hidden Heroes is a blend of all seven stories into one feature film that 6ixSigma hopes to get into film festivals and other viewing areas.
The world premiere of Hidden Heroes happens Saturday at the Prince George Playhouse. The 6:30 p.m. showing is sold out, but a second showing has been added at 8 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door.
An after-party will follow at Fore Bistro next door at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club.
A film trailer can be viewed online at bit.ly/2pXjoPr.
