David Malysheff shudders as he recalls the day he found himself surrounded by grumpy grizzly bears on Alaska鈥檚 Kenai Peninsula while shooting footage for Gary Cooper鈥檚 Fishing Diary.
鈥淲e were on their turf, and they were not happy,鈥� recalled the Victoria-based cinematographer, whose other harrowing career highlights include being charged by an elk near Jasper and his flight on a wind-whipped plane that had to land in Nunavut in a spot only slightly longer than the width of a football field.
It occurred during a 17-day flying tour over the Canadian Arctic with Viking Air pilots and brass to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Twin Otter鈥檚 maiden flight.
鈥淚t was like the opening of a David Lynch movie [Blue Velvet]. As we were coming in like a helicopter, I could almost wave to the grader operator on the main runway,鈥� he said.
That high-flying adventure began when strong winds suddenly shifted direction during the Twin Otter鈥檚 descent into Resolute at the end of its flight from Pond Inlet on Baffin Island.
After circling, the pilots decided to do a 鈥渃ross-runway鈥� landing, touching down on its 59-metre width instead of using the length of the runway, he said.
鈥淎t the end of day, the airplane did what it was meant to do beautifully, which is short-takeoff-and-landing,鈥� recalled Malysheff, 58. 鈥淚 knew something was up when the pilots said: 鈥楴o GoPro cameras for this landing.鈥� 鈥�
Whether shooting aerial footage of coastal patrol vessels from helicopters for the Royal Canadian Navy, spending 18 days underwater on the submarine HMCS Victoria, filming Harrison Ford at the movie star鈥檚 private airplane hangar in Santa Monica or working as director of photography on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network shows including Moosemeat and Marmalade and Tribal Police Files, there鈥檚 never a dull moment in this globe-trotting shooter鈥檚 life.
鈥淚鈥檓 fortunate to be able to say I love my job,鈥� said Malysheff, who is busier than ever these days. It鈥檚 partly because of the C300MarkII, the state-of-the-art Canon EOS Cinema camera that shoots ultra-high definition 4K video, which his company Gamut Productions recently acquired.
Armed with decades of experience and a can-do attitude, the graduate of Camosun College鈥檚 now-defunct Applied Communications Program admits he finds it hard to turn down gigs.
Early one morning in December, for instance, Malysheff drove from Victoria to Parksville, spent the day shooting electronic-press-kit material for the UpTV movie Game of Love with Heather Locklear and digitally transferred his media at midnight. After four hours of sleep, he woke up to prep another project and fly to Kelowna, where he spent that day shooting a Doctors of sa国际传媒 project.
A day after that, Malysheff began shooting Aspirations, a digital short for entrepreneur Joel Conway, whose Victoria-based Fortress Foundation aims to empower men to eliminate sexual exploitation.
Malysheff鈥檚 travels have taken him to such faraway places as Japan, the Philippines, Africa and Russia, where he was invited to a Bolshoi Ballet performance attended by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Last year, Moosemeat and Marmalade, the APTN culinary series co-starring Cree bush cook Art Napoleon and London Chef owner Dan Hayes, took him to London.
After shooting the tower of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and fish and chips from the banks of the Thames, he recalled Hayes asking his First Nations co-host what he felt like doing next. Replied Napoleon: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know, Dan. I feel like maybe going out and colonizing something.鈥�
As exotic as his adventures can be, such as being invited to a pow-wow in Lillooet recently, Malysheff said he never takes them for granted.
He was there as director of photography on Tribal Police Files, former police officer Steve Sxwithul鈥檛xw鈥檚 new APTN series that Malysheff describes as 鈥渓ike Cops,鈥� but it features officers on a reserve near Lillooet.
Malysheff is also re-teaming with director Peter C. Campbell on Penelakut: Return to Kuper Island, a documentary followup to Kuper Island: Return to the Healing Circle, Campbell鈥檚 1997 documentary. It takes a closer look at how things have changed for First Nations students who endured horrific conditions and abuse at residential schools they were forced to attend.
His new labour of love is A 20th Century Passion, a documentary Malysheff is co-directing and producing with filmmaker Hilary Pryor, with whom he has worked for 30 years.
Their many partnerships, which date back to Take Off, Pryor鈥檚 26-episode 1990s children鈥檚 TV series, include her recent APTN series Tiga Talk, documentaries such as One Hit Leads to Another, Checklist: A Measure of Evil and Mama June: A Different Perspective on AIDS, which he shot in Tanzania. They are also collaborating on A Change of Mind, Pryor鈥檚 new documentary on brain injury.
A 20th Century Passion focuses on the fascinating life of Dr. Peter Gary, a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor and composer whose wife promised that an ambitious oratorio he wrote in the 1970s to commemorate the lives of the six million Jews massacred during the Second World War would get its world premi猫re in Jerusalem before he died. The documentary interweaves archival material and interviews with the Polish-born concentration-camp survivor, who was liberated by the British Army from Bergen-Belsen on his 21st birthday, weighing just 76 pounds.
After emigrating to Los Angeles in 1950, Gary worked in the film industry as a composer, taught music at the University of California and spent two decades working as a sports-medicine physician.
Since moving to Victoria in the early 1990s, he founded the Victoria Holocaust Remembrance and Education Society, and shares his experiences with thousands of schoolchildren and youths.
If the filmmakers can raise enough to pay the orchestra, the film would culminate with the oratorio鈥檚 world premi猫re in Israel on April 16, the day after Gary鈥檚 92nd birthday.
鈥淭he more I thought about his story, the more it stuck in my craw,鈥� said Malysheff, who learned that Barak Tal, an Israeli conductor, was flying to Victoria to meet Gary for the first time after hearing his story.
Intrigued, Malysheff suggested they shoot two interviews, setting the stage for the project.
Another passion project, Malysheff said, are TV shows he shot for HeroWork, the local charity founded by Paul Latour, who unites tradespeople and others to participate in 鈥渞adical community renovations.鈥�
The Vancouver-raised cameraman has lived in Victoria since he was 17, when his father, who worked for sa国际传媒 Tel, relocated the family. He admits his first impressions weren鈥檛 favourable.
鈥淚 came to Claremont, where people took school buses. It was like The Beverly Hillbillies,鈥� he recalled with a laugh. 鈥淏ut now I wouldn鈥檛 trade it for anything.鈥�
He initially focused on radio at Camosun, going on to spin records for Denny鈥檚 Canned Music, and working at CKDA, 鈥渢he hip radio station,鈥� and at CFMS, the mellow FM station.
鈥淚 used to push buttons on [background music] shows like Candlelight and Wine,鈥� he said, mimicking a broadcast: 鈥淎nd that was Ferrante and Teicher doing a song I believe Simon and Garfunkel wrote, Bridge Over Troubled Water.鈥�
He began doing audio at CHEK TV, when it was located on Epsom Drive, before he started shooting commercials. When he left CHEK, he bought himself a Betacam and launched Pan Video Productions.
鈥淚 was one of the lucky ones,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have to move to, like, Lloydminster.鈥�
While Malysheff said Victoria 鈥渋s such a great place to come home to,鈥� he cherishes his wilder out-of-town adventures, as when actor Harrison Ford agreed to appear in The Immortal Beaver, his 2008 documentary portrait of the beloved de Havilland bush plane.
Malysheff was so nervous he asked Ford鈥檚 manager if he could arrive a day early to check out the location before shooting Ford鈥檚 segments.
鈥淎ll of a sudden, there鈥檚 the Blade Runner himself pulling up in his golf cart, and he says: 鈥楬op in!鈥欌�� recalled Malysheff, who helped the star push his DHC-2 Beaver biplane 鈥� the same vintage two-seater that Ford, 72, crashed on a California golf course last year 鈥� out of the hangar.
鈥淗e was very humble. He said: 鈥楧on鈥檛 forget: I started out as a carpenter.鈥� 鈥�
Malysheff鈥檚 other recurring gig 鈥� shooting electronic press kits 鈥� is an art in itself, he said.
He has captured behind-the-scenes footage for locally filmed projects including The Boy, The Keeper (Dennis Hopper), Fierce People (Diane Lane), Write and Wrong (Kirstie Alley) and The Mermaid Chair (Kim Basinger).
鈥淭he most important thing is understanding the hierarchy of a set,鈥� explained Malysheff.
As well as knowing the importance of not getting into an actor鈥檚 eyeline, or asking questions that haven鈥檛 been approved, Malysheff has learned the importance of being prepared.
鈥淥wning two tall director鈥檚 chairs is important, because you don鈥檛 have to start bothering props [personnel] for it,鈥� he said.
There are times a star you鈥檝e been told not to talk to can make it challenging to follow the rules, however, as he discovered when Spooky House filmed at Craigdarroch Castle in 2002.
When Malysheff stopped for a snack, he turned around to see Sir Ben Kingsley walking up to him.
鈥淏en Kingsley caught me with a mouthful of peanuts. He said: 鈥楴ow David, I鈥檓 going to be walking a jaguar in this next scene, and you鈥檙e going to be wanting to get a shot of that.鈥� 鈥�
