Anna Segal’s New Film, 23.4 Degrees, World Premiere in Whistler
Australian skier Anna Segal’s new film 23.4 Degrees will have its World Premiere tonight at the iF3 Festival in Whistler. The short film, created by Anna Segal and Jeff Thomas, was shot over a 12-month period and encapsulates the process of seasonal change in the mountains and its effects on the outdoor community.
A 12-minute short outdoor film directed by Jeff Thomas and Produced by Anna Segal, 23.4 Degrees follows a skier across the valleys, forests, boulder fields and mountain summits of British Columbia as she explores her affinity with seasonal change and the role it plays in connecting our modern lifestyle to the natural world.
Anna and Jeff recruited an award-winning team to work with them on the project, including writer Leslie Anthony (Canadian Geographic, Mountain Life, Powder Magazine) and Canadian Screen Award-nominated composer Ben Fox (Stateless, One of Ours).
Additional film festival screenings will follow the World Premiere of 23.4 Degrees before becoming available for viewing online in early winter. A distinct departure from the usual ski film template has made this film stand out on this year’s film festival circuit. The short film has already been chosen as a finalist for the Banff Mountain Film Festival (2023) and the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (2023). While it includes high-level action, it also stimulates a thought-provoking view of seasonal change and human connection to the outdoor environment.
For those in Canada the current 23.4 Degrees screening dates are::
- iF3 Whistler, Oct 21 (Whistler)
- Banff Mountain Film Festival, Oct 29 (Banff)
- MEC x POW Canada Season Opener, Oct 21 – Nov 1 (Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary)
- Gibbons Make It Snow Series, Nov 12 (Whistler)
- Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, Nov 17 (Vancouver)
From winning XGames gold and representing Australia at the 2014 Winter Olympics in slopestyle, Anna’s career has moved from the park and deeper into the mountains, focussing on the backcountry and big mountain skiing.
When embarking on the project, Anna Segal said her aim was “to create a film that would challenge more than just my physical ability in the mountains, by marrying together spoken word, original music, stunning cinematography, and skiing into a short piece.”
Segal continued, “I had loved working with Jeff Thomas on other ski-related film projects and knew that he was the person who could bring this vision to life.”
Thomas was attracted to the concept of 23.4 Degrees because of the colour and transformation of the landscape that he would have the chance to capture and portray to the audience. The film style departs from Thomas’ more action-focused work over the past few years. He reflected that “it was nice to have the ability to slow things down and not just focus on winter but the full gamut of the seasons while having the opportunity to expand on this theme in a greater sense.”
