Jill Orschel, an award-winning, Park City-based documentary filmmaker is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of her next project “Snowland.”
The film, which is about Cora Lee Witt, a former child bride and member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint cult, is ready to be submitted to the Sundance Film Festival and other festivals.
“It would be a dream to be in Sundance,” said Orschel, whose breakout short film “Sister Wife,” premiered at the 2009 festival. “Sundance inspired the work, but (I know) it will find its home.”
One of the reasons why “Snowland” can be submitted is because Orschel and animator Bridey Bush are finishing the last of the film’s animated sequences, which are based on a fantasy world Witt created under her alter ego C. Raven.
This world helped Witt cope with being under appreciated and abused while living under the strict religious and patriarchal rules of the polygamous sect.
“We’ve been working on the sequences for a year,” said Bush, who was born and raised in Park City. “It’s been an amazing experience. It’s taught me so much.”
Bush and Orschel’s collaboration stems from the friendship between the filmmaker and
Bush’s mother, Sharon Bush, who is one of The Park Record’s advertising representatives.
As luck would have it, Bush was finishing up an animation program at Evergreen State College in Washington.
“We’ve known the Orschels from way back, and Jill was looking for someone to work with in person,” said Bush, who at one time was an internationally ranked skier. “I (had) created a couple of short films. One was a mix of stop-motion and frame-by-frame, and one was about skiing and the environment. I actually wrote an essay explaining the parallels between the mountain body and the female body in our global cultures.”
Orschel had previously worked with Jeremy Rourke, an Academy Award-nominated animator, on “Snowland.”
“He is an amazing and talented animator from San Francisco, and he developed essentially the aesthetic with me,” Orschel said. “But I could tell that I could work with someone who was female or female identifying who could really click with Cora’s story. And Bridey’s right in there.”
Bush created the animated sequences in “Snowland” from Witt’s own sketches and colored drawings of landscapes and characters as well as family photos and newspaper clippings, Orschel said.
“(The) ‘Snowland’ (element) can come into (the film) at any time, and they serve as the emotional barometer of a scene,” she said.
Bush compiled the images and shot each piece, frame by frame, with 12 frames per second, and since the process is so meticulous, she and Orschel have adapted a ski-racing metaphor to keep things rolling.
“When we figure out the layouts together and the collages together and how it’s going to move, Bridey’s on her own when going out the gate,” Orschel said. “The coach can’t come with her, so if you make a mistake, you just keep going.”
That frame of mind has been helpful but also something Bush has come to terms with.
“(It’s) something I struggle with — (to) just keep moving and embrace those imperfections,” she said with a laugh. “We’re beautifully imperfect, and it’s all a part of this beautiful aesthetic.”
But these little flaws are something that gives these sequences depth, according to Orschel.
“That’s the beauty part of it,” she said. “The little imperfections are the moments when you see the artist behind it.”
Bush has always been interested in animated art.
“I’ve always been interested in it, and I love animated cartoons,” she said. “It’s so interesting that people’s perception of cartoons and animated shorts (is that they) are childish. But it’s actually so creative and surpasses boundaries of live action. It opens up the door to so many possibilities.”
Orcshel said the work Bush has done on “Snowland” only scratched the surface of how the artist perceived Witt’s story.
“This is a really talented young woman who has amazing sensibility,” Orschel said. “The animation in ways are magical and so enchanting but are very subtle, and they come alive, so we’re seeing not only her creativity, but her acute intelligence.”
Bush relates to Orschel and Witt as fellow creatives.
“Cora (used) her artistry to get through hard times,” Bush said. “She used it to survive and to thrive. She’s so inspirational. I’m so honored to bring her art forward into another form of ‘aliveness.’”
Bush is honored to work on the film, which documents the plight of one of many women who managed to escape the fundamentalist communities.
“I was fascinated by Cora’s story as an artist, and when Jill told me more about it, and I started researching, I became passionate about all of these women,” she said. “As a woman, an artist and as a person who aspires for peace and love, I was passionate about bringing these women’s stories to light and showing their strengths and resilience and (showing) the power of art to heal.”
Submitting “Snowland” to Sundance and other film festivals is not the only goal Orschel has for the film.
“We’d like to get the finished project in front of women that maybe haven’t (crossed) the bridge (that Cora) did, but who have that story within,” she said.
Orschel also invites anyone interested in the film to visit its website, jillorschel.com/snowland.
“We’re seeking some finishing funds, so if they want to learn about the project or if they want to be part of the effort to bring this creative, inspiring, important and unique story to the screen,” she said.