Red Snow: Q&A with Asivak Koostachin
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n January, Asivak Koostachin joined the CIS community and students to speak about his experience on set of Red Snow (2019), directed and written by Marie Clements. In Red Snow, Asivak plays Dylan, a Gwich’in soldier from the Canadian Arctic, caught in an ambush in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In the Q&A, Asivak spoke about how on set, Red Snow was called a “unicorn project” because there was “such high ambition” despite financial and time constraints. Asivak described the 20-day shooting schedule as “like running a 10k marathon, but we had only 30 minutes” and credits the shared vision on set to getting it done. A favourite memory from set was the opening ceremony with Elders and knowledge keepers in Kamloops on the first day of shooting. To Asivak, this is “the way it should be, acknowledging the lands and peoples,” not just with words but with ceremony. Red Snow has set the bar for other projects he is involved with because of this opening ceremony, and has also inspired him to think about the “intention behind a project” he’s a part of.
To prepare for some of the more high-intensity moments of the film, Asivak did a lot of research about veterans’ experiences, and reflected on how to navigate those experiences with courage and bravery. Asivak shared that hearing so many different languages on set filled him with a “childlike wonder.” He also spoke to how language and portraying characters frames the way you look at the world, so the combination of both on the set of Red Snow was a remarkable experience. Asivak also spoke to his past acting experiences, such as a recent November 2020 film project in Montana, and his experience in the interactive play šxʷʔam̓ət with the Theatre for Living. The Q&A ended with Asivak sharing with us how his character Dylan and his spirit stays with him, and shared with us a token from his time on set. You can watch Asivak in Red Snow on CBC Gem.
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