Interactive map showcases Blue River film locations
By Rachel Fraser
An interactive map released by the Thompson-Nicola Film Commission (TNFC) showcases the region’s filming destinations and directs interested folks to locations that have been used to film movies, TV shows, commercials, music videos and documentaries in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.
The TNFC is a department within the Regional District with the purpose of marketing the region and attracting motion picture production to the District. The commission received funding through Destination BC to create the map.
The movie locations map shows that five productions have filmed on location in Blue River — all ski and snowboard related.
While most of the five are documentary-style productions, the 1993 Hollywood feature film “Aspen Extreme”, starring Paul Gross, used Blue River, among other locations in B.C., as a stand-in for Colorado backcountry.
“Like There’s No Tomorrow,” a 2011 documentary on winter and winter sports like snowboarding and skiing, puts Blue River in the company of “the world’s most inspiring snowy landscapes,” according to a promotional blurb.
According to a Regional District press release announcing the launch, the map allows film enthusiasts, tourists and locals to connect with the region’s film history by showing the locations pictured in the productions while also providing information on how to watch the production, including whether it can be borrowed through the Thompson-Nicola Regional Library. It also lets you know if the location is accessible to the public. Many locations are not.
“Probably half of our locations that are used for film productions are somebody’s house, or ranchland,” said TNFC Film Commissioner Terri Hadwin. “So those are places that we wouldn’t want folks exploring on their own, or feeling like they’re entitled to go up to someone’s door and poke around.”
Downtown sidewalks, restaurants, tourist attractions and other public spaces that have been used in filming are listed as visitable and visiting is encouraged.
All Blue River sites were filmed through Mike Weigele Heli-skiing, so while film buffs can visit all five, they will have to access them the same way.
The map is a modernized version of a similar site that was shut down about 7 years ago, but has now been brought back due to requests from tourism providers across the region, according to Hadwin.
“They felt that quite a lot of people, when they came to the area, would say, oh we’re here because we heard that Jurassic World was filmed here, and they want to have something that they can point people to.”
