Not Just a Boys’ Club – The B.I.G. Initiative’s New Film Series

This afternoon, the B.I.G. Initiative released their trailer for their second film series directed by Alexa Fay. Not Just a Boys’ Club presents women who currently play important roles in Canadian climbing while highlighting the challenges they’ve faced during their careers.

This four-part film series will release over the course of Women’s History Month, exploring routesetting, business, femininity, competition, and solutions for women in an industry dominated by white men.

Part 1 – Routesetters

Working in conjunction with The North Face and Mate Libre, the Bring in the Girls (B.I.G.) Initiative will begin releasing their series on March 9, 2022. The first of the four-part production will follow Canadian setters Sachi Adachi, Rasha Taha, and Viviane Pham through a day in their respective gyms.

This routesetting piece is core to the B.I.G. Initiative. The first film will lay the foundation on which the rest of the series is built. It will provide audiences with context for the subsequent stories. Through their subjects, B.I.G. will question why climbing is an inequitable industry.

Part 2 – Business Owners

Building on this foundation, the series’s second film will follow business owners Lacey Dumler, the co-owner of Shakti Rock Gym in Montreal and Lisa Lajoie, co-owner of Delire Escalade in Quebec City. With their years in the industry, Dumler and Lajoie offer context in a sport that has long centered men. Their experiences will provide context to the changes they see occurring in climbing. They will also offer solutions they hope to see in practice to make climbing a more comfortable space for women.

Part 3 – Bad Flower Pictures

This need for solutions will be underscored in the third film with Bad Flower Pictures. Art Director and competition climber Pia Graham partners with photographer, film maker and climber Ilya Sarossy to create a photoshoot that explores femininity in climbing. Notably, the photoshoot was recently published in Vogue Italia and swept through Canadian climbing. This dazzling celebration of femininity juxtaposes with Graham’s past as a competition climber. She will describe the unsettling realities about the competitive climbing scene.

Part 4 – The B.I.G. Initiative

The series will conclude with a description of how B.I.G. founder Geneviève de la Plante hopes her organization can support women. The deep-dive interview will help audiences understand how B.I.G came into being before the film segues to introduce B.I.G. instructor Flannery Shay-Nemirow. The film will follow her through a B.I.G. workshop as she explains how the organization is helping women in setting.

Schedule

March 8: Trailer

March 9: Part 1

March 16: Part 2

March 23: Part 3

March 24: Part 4

Featured image by Pierre Babin.