Bill Mason was a stalwart Canadian filmmaker who featured heritage-baed canoeing in many of his films. His other films were mostly about nature in one way or another. He was also a painter. And a canoeing educator and writer. He had great acclaim for his work.
I sell DVDs of his classic movie, “Waterwalker,” which has a soundtrack by a young Bruce Cockburn. A marvelous film. I used to sell dozens a year. Now it’s just about zilch. I wonder what happened? It’s still a hard to find movie. And anywone wanting it would have to know they’re doing good by buying it thru OYB. What changed?
Well, all of Mason’s films are now available for free online. But how many people really burn indie movies for bigscreen display from files off of the Web? What’s more, a majority of outdoor indie types are still not online all that much, not for tricky projects, anyway. I doubt that I’ve lost my market to an official Canandian film resource. In fact, I’d think that if someone even saw the movie online that they’d rather just order an actual DVD than deal with converting and copying and burning it themselves. It’s a rather bigger deal than burning a music CD, after all.
Anyway, here’s a link to ALL of Mason’s films, online. They’re great. There are quite a few shorts and lots of variety. The “Paddle to the Sea” movie is there, too. A classic! And if you want a DVD of Waterwalker, I got ’em!
https://www.nfb.ca/explore-by/director/Bill-Mason/?&dir_range=All&genre=&decade=1960&lang=en
