The 'Orion Son' Film Collaboration

Brad Ryan 1976-2008. Perhaps you knew Bradley and were one of the many souls to be touched by his bright shining spirit. Many more of us will have experienced a similar loss and the throws of mourning and grieving that come with the unexpected loss of a constellation in our lives, suddenly extinguished from the earthly plane.

Bradley and I formed an extremely tight brotherhood and bond during our coming of age years (winters) in The Kootenays. We discovered in our final months of high school, that come mid winter graduation we were respectively headed west for big mountain life. Brad showed me an early 90s Powder Mag describing Kootenay ski resorts as something out of a 1950s ski flick - 'Tons of snow and no crowds' We were SOLD and bought Plane tickets to the Castlegar regional airport via Toronto and Calgary. Head North from Castlegar and the first ski town is Nelson BC. Head south and you have Rossland BC. We decide to try Nelson first and if need be check out Rossland. We spent the followin 10-15 years obsessed with 100 day winters in the Nelson area. I guesstimate that Bradley and I spent 500+ days together in the backcountry during those winters. We got incredibly close, as happens under these conditions. We formed a brotherhood of the sort where you are so close, at times, you fight and behave in ways that in hindsight you regret. KINDNESS is something I continue to cultivate and strive to achieve with consistency.

Bradley suffered a head trauma injury while climbing at Joshua Tree in the early days of April 2008. It was a stop he made enroute to the Koots, where we were expecting him in the coming weeks. The first phone call came with the news of the accident and that Bradley was in a coma. Bradly was so bright, young, vibrant and strong that I never entertained anything but recovery. 4 days later the next phone call came to the lakehouse in the evening 'Bradley didn't make it'. - This was an extremely devastating and painful moment in my life. The next few days were exceptionally raw and disorienting. All we knew to do was to go ride in the shrine, but this of course involved having to see close mates and community and having to acknowledge Bradley's death, receive condolences and so forth. Some very dear friends accompanied me, ripping around the hill with me and simply allowing me to be silent (Thanks Fam).

Six weeks later I had a heavily booze induced 'Irish Wake' in Toronto with close friends and the following day was the Wake proper in Peterborough. Again accompanied by a few close friends I was able to make it to Peterborough and back, attend the ceremony, meet Bradley's mom for the first time, and connect with many others grieving our loss.

The 'Orion Son' Film collaboration project has been a solid ten years in the planning. Jay Fox of Le Nouveau Pauvre and I will be creating an experimental, verite esque film about this volatile 30 hour whirlwind, the night before and day of Brad's wake, through my shattered lense. A handful of close friends and collaborators are giving their time to assist in filming this piece. Locations, equipment, time, talent are all being donated thus far. Travel expenses, including several airfares from AZ and BC are being self purchased by both Jay the filmmaker and Bradley's Mom.

You can support this artwork by donating to the production costs. If you are in the Toronto area and are interested in behind the scenes assisting or background / on screen roles, please send a message. Please share this campaign. And words of encouragement are always appreciated.

With Love,

Charlie

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