A day in the life of an Olympic athlete chauffeur

On June 27th, I woke up much earlier than I would have liked to drive my sister and her filmmaking partner to pick up future Olympic wrestler Leah Callahan from the Vancouver airport.

Why, you might be asking yourself, was I acting as chauffeur for an elite athlete? In case you’re wondering: no, I have not changed professions. I reckon it would be difficult to find clients to drive around in the 1986 Dodge 600 that my father kindly puts at my disposal.

June 27th marked the official launch date of the Sticking Place Interactive Documentary. It’s an amazing film project created by Josephine Anderson and Brittany Baxter of Moosestash Films, and it’s centred around a particularly interesting and brutally honest real-life protagonist:

Leah Callahan, the rebel dreamer with a cause, will be the youngest member of the 2012 Canadian Women’s Olympic Wrestling Team.

Leah Callahan wrestling Ohenewa Akuffo

With unwavering dedication and authenticity, Leah’s journey to achieve her dream mirrors the challenges we all face while striving to build lives filled with meaning and joy.

Macbeth.   If we should fail?

Lady Macbeth.   We fail!
    But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
    And we’ll not fail.

(from Macbeth Act 1, scene 7, by William Shakespeare)

The Sticking Place is an interactive documentary which means you get to choose how you want to explore the story.

In one segment, you can voyeuristically explore Leah’s email inbox and handwritten journal. In another, you can submit a video message to appear in an interactive map of the world. There are action-packed wrestling videos, hilarious stories from family members (Leah’s father once crawled over 13 miles to break a Guinness World Record!), and much, much more.

The Sticking Place invites us all to examine the conventional truisms about what it means to have a dream and follow it. I recommend insist that you head over to http://theStickingPlaceFilm.ca/ and check it out.

If you like it, please take a few seconds to share the website link on your Facebook, Twitter (use the #TheStickingPlace hashtag), blog, or other social media, and tell your friends and family about it. And, of course, be sure to watch Leah wrestle at the 2012 London Olympics in August!

Josephine and Brittany in the Global TV cafeteria before their live interview the day before the film launch:

Josephine Anderson and Brittany Baxter of Moosestash Films, in the Global TV cafeteria

While Josephine and Brittany worked hard to bring this film to the world, they’d also like to go to the 2012 Olympics in London to watch Leah compete and to add to the film, if they’re able to find a source of funding. So please, spread the word!

The Sticking Place Kickstarter Campaign

My sister Josephine, a documentary filmmaker, has just launched a Kickstarter campaign. Don’t know what that means? Read the short and sweet right over here: http://thestickingplacefilm.ca/kickstarter

The reason for her Kickstarter campaign? She and Brittany Baxter are making an interactive documentary called The Sticking Place. What’s an “interactive documentary,” you ask? Head over to their Kickstarter page to find out! It’s all kinds of awesome (and it’s FREE!).

The Sticking Place interactive documentary film

Not only that, but Josephine and Brittany have just founded the amazingly-named Moosestash Films. Check out their logo:

Moosestash Films: Josephine Anderson and Brittany Baxter

If you’ve read this far, I’m going to ask you to do me one small favour, and spread the word to your friends. Maybe post a link on your Facebook account, or send it around by email to your close friends and family. Here’s the link again: http://thestickingplacefilm.ca/kickstarter