Canmore Filmmaker Brings Abraham Lake Art Story to Banff Mountain Film Festival

Canmore filmmaker Peter O’Hara’s short documentary Renewal will premiere Nov. 8 to a sold-out crowd at the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival’s Bow Valley Showcase.

The 23-minute documentary follows David Popa, an artist who has created large-scale works in remote landscapes around the world, as he creates three large, temporary chalk-and-charcoal pieces on and around Abraham Lake.

“I feel like the film has so much more to say than just revealing these beautiful pieces,” O’Hara told Bow Valley Insider.

“I would say it’s a story for everybody, but in particular anybody that’s creative. It doesn’t have to be creative in terms of an artist, but that thing that you want to do in your life.”

Travel Alberta brought Popa to Abraham Lake, near Nordegg, in January to create the works as a unique way to promote tourism, according to O’Hara. The lake is known for its distinctive methane bubbles trapped beneath the ice.

The idea for the film came from a conversation at last year’s festival between O’Hara and Maryanne Doran, who works at Travel Alberta and produced the film. They talked about turning the project into a film and trying to get it into the festival. A year later, O’Hara will be back to introduce it.

“It’s like a full circle moment for us and the team,” O’Hara said.

Creating art before the elements take over

The film was shot over roughly a week in January as Popa used natural materials to create two pieces on the frozen lake and one in the nearby Cline River canyon, as previously reported by Bow Valley Insider.

Popa was originally supposed to create only one piece, but O’Hara said he got so excited that he decided to make a triptych, a series of three connected pieces of art. The film follows his struggle with the conditions on the frozen, windy lake as he works quickly to finish before the elements destroy the work.

“He has to pull off the work basically in a day because working in those landscapes, the weather can come in and just ruin it,” O’Hara said.

The first piece couldn’t be finished in a day, and the crew had to leave it overnight.

“That was the scariest part: is this piece gonna last overnight?” O’Hara said.

The finished artwork is just as temporary as the conditions that shape it.

“It’s just chalk and charcoal, but it’s gone within 24 hours,” O’Hara said. “He kind of says the Mona Lisa is behind layers of bulletproof glass. We want all our work to be eternal, but literally the next day his artwork is completely gone.”

The film also follows what happens to the work once the weather takes it back. The crew put a microphone on Popa and followed him back out the next day to capture his reaction as a piece faded.

“That’s actually one of my favourite parts in the film ... watching it sort of disappear in front of his eyes,” O’Hara said.

Popa said he was comfortable with another filmmaker documenting work that is meant to vanish.

“Filmmaking and the kind of art I create have always gone hand in glove precisely because the physical work is temporary,” Popa told Bow Valley Insider by email. “The moving image allows people to experience something of the creation, the landscape, and the circumstances surrounding a piece before it disappears.”

A deeper story emerges

The film grew beyond what was first planned, largely through conversations with Popa in the evenings after long days on the ice.

“Early on, Peter and I were asking what this film was really about,” Popa said. “Was it simply about me going to Alberta to create a new series, or could it go deeper and speak to anyone who feels called to create?”

Popa, who now lives in Finland, remembers how conversations over dinner helped shape the film.

“I believe we were sitting down for a meal with Peter and Claudio when I started telling stories about my dad: things he taught me, funny memories, and what it was like growing up in New York with a father who had been a graffiti writer,” Popa said. “Within a few minutes, Peter felt that this needed to be part of the documentary.”

“His experiences, his teaching, and our relationship are such an important part of how I became an artist,” he said.

Popa said he came to Abraham Lake worn down by a busy stretch of his career.

“I arrived at a very emotional point after an extremely busy period. It had been more than six months since I’d really gone out into nature to create in that way,” Popa said. “Being in Alberta, surrounded by that landscape and such a wonderful team, helped bring me back to that place.”

O’Hara said the film asks how an artist holds on to what made them start creating in the first place, something Popa calls his “guiding star” in the film.

Popa had already named the project Renewal, and the film team took the name.

“We had a bunch of different titles, but then he called this whole project Renewal, and it just felt like that’s what we should name this,” O’Hara said.

Popa said watching the finished film brought that feeling back.

“It reminded me why I do all of this in the first place. I think I’ll probably return to it whenever I need a reminder of the mission behind my work,” he said.

Both men describe the project as a close collaboration.

“It’s not just a project about me. It was a team project,” O’Hara said.

Along with O’Hara, Popa and Doran, the team included director of photography Claudio Frimmel, safety guide Brett Pawlyk and assistant to production Brogan Hepworth.

Finding a home in the Rockies

O’Hara grew up in a small town outside Toronto and discovered his interest in filmmaking right out of high school. He went to college for it, trained in cinematography and editing, and worked in film and television in Toronto for about 15 years.

He first saw the Rockies’ backcountry in 2016, on a drive along the Icefields Parkway while visiting friends. In 2019, he came back for what was meant to be a short trip.

“I was only supposed to be here for a week or two, and I ended up staying for three months just backpacking and hiking,” he said.

“There’s something about the Canadian Rockies ... it does something to my soul. I can’t quite explain it,” O’Hara said. “It wasn’t really until I came out here that I really found my true purpose.”

O’Hara and his fiancée now run Silver Fern Productions in Canmore, specializing in adventure photography and filmmaking.

O’Hara calls Renewal his directorial debut. He has made short films before, but always as a collaborator or cinematographer.

“Making this film was almost a renewal process for myself as well, getting back to my filmmaking roots,” O’Hara said.

A Bow Valley premiere

Renewal will be shown alongside five other films in the Bow Valley Showcase: She Measures the Earth, How to Make Paper, Patches of Skye, Stories of Resilience: Voices from Jasper, and Contours of Nature.

Showcase films are chosen for their connection to the Bow Valley as well as their creativity and storytelling, according to Joanna Croston, director of mountain culture at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

“The Bow Valley is home to a vibrant community of filmmakers, climbers, adventurers, artists, and storytellers, and this program celebrates the talented filmmakers, compelling stories, and extraordinary landscapes of our own backyard,” Croston said.

O’Hara will introduce the film and join a festival panel on filmmaking in challenging environments.

The showcase starts at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Max Bell Auditorium at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. For those who didn’t get tickets, the films are scheduled to be available for purchase online from Nov. 12 to 22 in Canada and the U.S. only.

For O’Hara, it's his first film at the Banff festival.

“This is my first film in the Film Fest ... it’s kind of fulfilling almost a lifelong dream,” he said.