National Parks Project Exiles Musicians for a Cause

Mashable   
March 21st, 2011

Credit: Lee Coursey / Flickr

by Zachary Sniderman

If a bunch of musicians get filmed in a national park and no one is around to hear them, can they make an impact? That’s the pseudo-question asked by the National Parks Project, a collaborative film, music, television and new media project aimed at raising awareness and drumming up support for Canada’s national parks.

From May to October of last year, the project sent out groups of three musicians and one filmmaker to 13 national parks (one in each province and territory) to capture their experiences in a short film and soundtrack. Those clips are set to be distributed in four ways on March 19: as a making-of television documentary airing on Discovery World HD, a set of short films shown at film festivals, a soundtrack collection of the best music, and an online, interactive portal to each of the 13 parks visited.

The National Parks Project is a collaboration between FilmCAN and Primitive Entertainment in conjunction with Parks Canada and Discover World HD. The site is part of the centennial of Parks Canada, the world’s first ever parks service.

More than 50 artists took part, including members of Broken Social Scene, the Smashing Pumpkins, Sam Roberts and both established and greenhorn directors. The oddball pairings resulted in unique collaborations inspired by the wilderness. Each quartet (three musicians, one director) was selected with the aim of putting together people that have never worked together before, in the spirit of exploring unfamiliar ground.

This story continues at Mashable.

Watch the trailer below:

National Parks Project – Trailer from Ryan J. Noth on Vimeo.

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