Cary Ciesielski, who grew up in and around Canora, has been nominated for an award at the Yorkton Film Festival, to be held May 23 to 26.
Ciesielski, four other producers, and Ian Toews, director, were nominated for Etthen Heldeli: Caribou Eaters, a video production about the Dené culture, and how so many parts of their lives are related to the caribou. The Dené people are an aboriginal group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada.
“I was very involved in the show as a sound designer, and re-recording mixer,” said Ciesielski.
He works at a digital media production company called Twisted Pair Productions.
He is the son of Carl and Sharon Ciesielski. His mother still lives in Canora, while his father passed away in 2008.
Ciesielski lives in Regina, but spent the better part of his youth around Canora and Buchanan.
“We moved to Canora from Buchanan the summer before I started Grade 1,” he said. “I was born in Canora Hospital, and we were on a farm near Buchanan prior to moving to Canora.”
He graduated from Canora Composite school in 1988, and has fond memories of his time in the Canora region.
“I always loved driving around the country exploring things. It's something that my job still allows me to do all the time.”
After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Regina in 1998, Ciesielski began working for one of the companies that partnered to create Twisted Pair Productions.
“I have worked on set and in post-production on several feature films, short films and documentaries,” he said. “I have directed, produced, and edited hundreds of television commercials and corporate videos. I have also created short documentaries and other audio or visual content for many museums and interpretive centres.
“Ian Toews, the director and main force behind our nominated film, Etthen Heldeli: Caribou Eaters, and I have been working together since 1995 in film school. We also created the TV series Untamed Gourmet together, and split the directing duties.”
The show is about chefs and restaurants that cook with foraged, hunted or fished ingredients.
More information on these projects is available at www.cariboueaters.com/ and https://aptn.ca/untamedgourmet/.
Ciesielski said there is a lot of variety in his work.
“Everyday is different. I get to play a key creative role in just about every project I work on. That's what keeps me interested,” he explained.
“I have multiple roles in the company. I am a partner. I am a producer, director, editor, and sound designer. I've been with the same company for 22 years, and have held most of those roles for at least 15 years. The company pretty much produces every kind of media you could imagine.”
Prior to attending university, Ciesielski played in several bands and was considering pursuing a career as a musician.
“Earlier in my professional career, I wrote music for many documentaries, and still play a role in the music for certain productions. But when I created my first short film in university, I knew I'd be doing this for a long time,” he said.
Ciesielski said he was honoured that he and his co-workers received the Yorkton Film Festival nomination. He has previously received recognition for other projects.
“I was nominated as a producer for a series I directed a few years ago,” Ciesielski said. “It was a military heritage project featuring interviews with several Second World War veterans, and was broadcast on Citytv Saskatchewan. In 2004, I won a Golden Sheaf for location sound for a film called Karaoke Night at the Plains.”
Ciesielski said probably the most amazing part of being involved in the Etthen Heldeli: Caribou Eaters was the opportunity to produce and direct a behind the scenes, virtual reality documentary on the making of the project, also available at cariboueaters.com.
“I spent a week on location with Ian Toews to film the majority of it,” he recalled. “My 360-degree video rig consists of seven gopro cameras in a specific mounting apparatus. So every battery change or media reload means seven cameras need to be changed. We were working out of log cabins with wood stoves at minus 35 for the first few days. We had to put together a plan to keep batteries charged and working in those kind of temperatures without power.
“Then, when we finally went on the caribou hunt, we accompanied two Dené hunters. Each of the four of us had a snowmobile with a trailer for all of the hunting, camping and production equipment. We rode from Black Lake, Sask. to Selwyn Lake in the North West Territories (approximately 124 km) through some of the roughest terrain I've ever ridden, never mind pulling a trailer the whole time. We built a wall tent and stove, gathered firewood, and slept there the first night. We hunted the next day, spent one more night, and returned with far heavier trailers, now full of meat on the third day in a sub-arctic blizzard. Those were definitely some of my craziest work days.”
Ciesielski said he is currently directing TV commercials for one of the largest national campaigns in Canada this year, but he was not at liberty to say anything specific about it.
He was involved in the production of an ad currently run by SGI where a truck is stolen.
One of his projects will be seen by a large audience during the coming football season
“If you are at a Roughriders game this season, Mosaic Potash is re-running a commercial I produced and directed called We Can See Tomorrow from Here.”
Ciesielski continues to find new challenges as he works on future projects.
“I'm developing a science documentary series which could happen this year, if everything falls into place. Check back with me in the fall, and maybe I'll have an update,” he concluded.
