RICHARD OLAK photo Richard Olak stars as main character Erik Matheson in The Battle of Burgledorf next year. Langara grad makes new fantasy movie Studio 58 grad’s movie will come out next year By SABLEEN MINHAS Us a story of a regular gas station worker who falls in love with a wom- an. Sounds clichéd? What if this regular guy embarks on a quest to save the world from dark evil? A world in which dwarves, elves, vampires and an evil queen with a pet falcon are real. Well, that is the unusu- al plot of The Battle of Burgledorf. It’s a feature-length fantasy movie written and directed by Richard Olak, a Langara digital film production pro- gram graduate and has been in the making for about 10 years. “The Battle of Burgledorf is essen- tially like a satire and very comedic homage to the hero’s journey,” Olak said. Though the hero goes on a Frodo- like adventure, the movie has no other relation with the Lord of the Rings, he said. “Most of the film is made on the blood, sweat and tears of the people who helped us,” said Olak, the lead ac- tor, director, writer and producer of the movie. Guy Judge, a Langara digital film production program graduate, is a co- producer of the movie. “T remember one day [Olak] said ‘Hey, what do you think about this idea for a movie?’ and I was like that’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I love it!” Judge said. The first draft of the script was writ- ten in 2004 while Olak was studying at Langara. “Over the course of about four years and after 13 drafts, I finally locked it in 2008,” Olak said. The movie was shot in 70 days over four years at 50 different locations, but with a major flaw. “We shot... 90 per cent of the film, with no visual effects in mind,” said Olak. The movie will be released by the end of this year as the team is still working on visual effects, colour cor- rection and sound, he said. 66 One day [Olak] said ‘Hey, what do you think about this idea for a movie?’ and Iwas like that’s the stupid- est thing Ive ever heard. I love it! GUY JUDGE Studio 58 ‘punk’ to hit the small screen Langara graduate Tim Carlson is making a name for himself by starring in a Calgary sitcom By VIVIAN CHUI has swaggered into Calgary for lights, camera and action in a new comedy sitcom. After a Vancouver audition for the Young Drunk Punk tele- vision series in July, Studio 58’s Tim Carlson was shortlisted for the lead role a month later. He was on tour in Edmon- ton at the Edmonton Interna- tional Fringe Festival with Lorax Improv, a five-year- old theatre improvisation group consisting of two friends and himself, he said in an interview with the Cal- gary Herald. The casting confirmation pro- cess kept Carlson in the air over four days as he flew between Van- couver, Edmonton, and Toronto. Carlson graduated from Langara College’s three- year acting program in professional the- atre training at Studio 58 two years ago. “He was a good student, inventive, very creative, and hardwork- ing,” said Stu- dio 58 artistic director Kathryn Shaw. His creativity was particu. | larly show- cased ina perfor- mance with fel- low class- mate Daniel Doheny that in- volved only fin- gers and light, Shaw said. Studio 58 alumnus Ryan McCallion recalls Carlson’s puppetry extravagan- za project with Doheny that only in- volved camera and hands, re-enacting popular movies such as Jurassic Park. =": Drunk Punk from Langara “He embodies talent,” said Ryan Mc- Callion, who graduated from Studio 58’s at the same time as Carlson. “He has a dignity about him.” McCallion was the lighting crew head at a Studio 58 production of Julius Caesar, where Carlson starred as Mark Antony. “He was generous on and off set,” said McCallion. Young Drunk Punk, commissioned by Rogers Com- munications Inc., will pre- miere — early next year on the _ televi- sion network City, accord- ing to Rog- ers Media TV’s web- site. FACEBOOK photo Langara’s Studio 58 graduate, ac- tor Tim Carlson, will be starring in anew TV series premiering early next year, set in Calgary, Alberta. Union of B.C. Performers directors may include Langara grads Two Langara grads are putting their education to use and may make a difference for performers By JES HOVANES ith civic elections just around the Wer: voting is a hot topic right now, but two Langara grads have another race to worry about. Studio 58 grads Garry Chalk, class of 1976, and Lee Jeffery, class of 1987, are running for director positions in the Union of B.C. Performers. UBCP is the union that negotiates on behalf of B.C. actors and performers for fair wages, safe working conditions and health benefits among other things. Chalk will be entering his third term if he wins this election. Overall, he praises the work of the union. “Tt’s been very rewarding,” Chalk said. “A united group of people is much stronger than an individual.” The elections have had a very low turn out in past years. Chalk said that only about 10 to 20 per cent of members voted in the last election. “We've gotten together with the campaign to get it out there and to get people to vote because the vote mat- ters,” he said. Noah Dennis, a young Vancouver ac- tor, said that he used to be a member of UBCP but let his membership lapse. Dennis didn’t vote even when he was a member. He said young actors feel that union membership prevents them from doing jobs. “T want to do independent projects that the union holds you back from,” Dennis said. He said voting or not voting in a union election is like any election for young people. “There is a lack of awareness of the ins and outs of the union... people are busy and it’s a part of the business that most actors are not really interested in ” The election runs until Nov. 27, 2014. Candidate statements are available on YouTube. JES HOVANES photo Garry Chalk is running for director in UBCP this fall.