One of the perks of living in a mountain town is discovering the characters around you. Everyone was called to the mountains for some reason, and everyone has a story about how they got there.
That’s kind of what MULTIPLICITY is all about: getting to know the stories behind some of the greatest mountain personalities.
Darcy Turenne is one personality that you’ll get to discover on April 12th (tickets? right here) at MULTIPLICITY, and you can bet that she tells a mean story: it’s what she does for a living. Armed with a video camera, this pro-mountain-biker-turned-filmmaker uses ethnography, metaphor, and critical analysis to pull the audience into her films – if you’ve seen her film The Little Things, then you know what we mean.
ML: What is one of the biggest obstacles or challenges you’ve had to overcome in your own personal story?
DT: Transitioning from being a pro mountain biker to a full-time filmmaker was a pretty daunting challenge because I really had no idea if it would work out for me or not.
I was super scared to retire from mountain biking because it was what I comfortable doing, but I felt compelled to challenge myself and follow my new passion, which was film — even though I knew very little about filmmaking at the time.
I had no idea if work would come, and there were long stints when it didn’t, but I got a few lucky breaks and always tried to stay positive and do the best work I could given my limited budgets (and skill set – ha!). It was a good lesson in taking a giant leap of faith and learning to trust myself.
ML: As a filmmaker and storyteller, what do you think makes a great story?
DT: I personally don’t need a ton of drama or conflict to think a story is great. For me it’s all about building a strong character, and showing their relationships to the world around them in a very detailed way so that the viewer gains understanding and empathy for that character and dives fully into their world — if the viewer is connected enough, even the most simple story can be a good one. I suppose I just really love when stories dive deep into the human psyche and experience.
ML: What are you planning on sharing with the audience during your MULTIPLICITY presentation?
DT: I’ll be speaking about a few of my favourite misadventures through my travels as a filmmaker, and how the best stories are usually the ones nobody could ever plan for.
ML: From the outside looking in, I would say it looks like you’ve had a pretty crazy year. What are some of the biggest highlights from the past 365 days?
DT: Some of the highlights of the past 365 days include finishing up my first feature film, The Little Things, and touring it around; filming mountain biking in Mongolia; going to Nicaragua to film for Sundance and getting caught in some bizarre circumstances (to be elaborated on in my presentation); and attending a conciousness-altering meeting of the minds in Amsterdam this fall… and actually spending more time at home in Squamish than in past years, which was a real treat!
ML: Do you have any big plans for the coming year? What’s next for you?
DT: Just seeing where the wind blows me next, because it always blows me somewhere exciting 🙂 That said, I have some lofty creative and career goals…but I’m using this year to recover from The Little Things and lay the foundation for future film projects.
