BEYOND THE ONIROS FILM AWARDS®
VIP Interview with Mark Rose, director of the documentary ‘Alaska Long Hunters’
by Alice Lussiana Parente
I had the great pleasure of talking with Mark Rose: director, writer, producer and narrator of the documentary ‘Alaska Long Hunters’. Originally from Oregon, Mark moved at an early age to Alaska with his family and was immediately immersed in the elements of Alaska magnificent lands, where the documentary is set. In this interview, we talk about the challenges of self-producing and filming an indie movie in the wilderness, what we can learn from nature, but mostly how to surrender and find faith within ourselves.
1. You wrote, directed, narrated and produced the documentary. How was this experience for you? Which part did you love the most and which part did you find more challenging during production?
This film is centered on Flying in Alaska and my experiences their expressed in my autobiography book, ‘Last of the Long Hunters’. Making it often brought back memories (some I wished to forget) being acted out and rehearsed before my eyes, so some was fun, some embarrassing and others exciting!
2. When and how did you decide to make the book ‘Last of the Long Hunters’ into a documentary?
After the books success on Kindle and encouragement from my friends and family, we saw a story maybe worth telling to the outside world through film and see if anyone was interested.
3. Which documentaries or movies inspired you the most while preparing your film?
Yellow Ribbon by Ford, Dances with Wolves by Costner.
4. In light of the recent events, what do you think is the role of cinema in a world post-pandemic?
Sharing honest stories with a message of Hope seems to work is my hope as a faith-based filmmaker…
5. Nature can be a threat to humans, as we also see in your documentary, however we are at the moment a threat to nature. Where do you stand on this issue?
This is a great question that also relates to faith. Mankind (I hope you agree) needs answers to these questions, e.g. If there is a God for instance, and if there is a God, does He care? I think the answer is yes to both, and God obviously reached out to me and saved me physically and later spiritually as portrayed in this film. If you will note, I made a life-or-death appeal to Heaven in the cockpit that night, as I had seen other pilots get into the same situation and not make it. Knowing that, I exhausted every other human option and I couldn’t reason or think of any way out of this mess, that I was getting ready to die a terrible death and was miraculously spared I believe. Over 30 years later and after reading the book Heaven is for Real, where the writer shares that there are only close relatives in Heaven, and that the voice that spoke to me had called me Son. I had discovered that I had no reason whatsoever to be called Son by God. In truth I was a very ungodly and rebellious kid. I was self-centered, irreligious, prideful, not a nice person inside at all! But the Creator called even me, Son! That’s revealing of God’s good character and true attitude toward us. It’s a free relationship begun by being humble and saying that first prayer of our needy state that got God’s attention in my view, not some outward act.
6. What is the biggest lesson Alaska can teach you?
Respect for the land, the animals and its beauty. That it was created to show God’s ability and glory.
7. How challenging is to distribute a self-produced movie nowadays?
I started in the film festival world, got invited to share through interviews like you are doing here… Then distribution offers came in, eventually…
Mark Rose director, writer and producer of the documentary Alaska Long Hunters – www.alaskarescuestory.com
8. You describe yourself as atheist, but you use in the documentary many quotes from the Bible, and you talk about reading it during your trip. Do you think nature can bring us closer to faith or to whatever God or universe we believe in?
Great question! I had an attitude in my youth of me against the elements. Alaska can be a very harsh place, in and by itself, coupled with the life and death struggle we see in the animal world, it’s hard to see the workings of a loving God. But if you back up and look at the more complete story in context; that this earth was once an unimaginable beautiful creation and was subsequently destroyed in a flood judgement, I all begins to make sense. There are tell-tale evidences of this all over the State and world.
9. It’s one thing to direct actors, a whole different task to direct animals (although at times they can be more truthful than real actors). How was shooting the scenes involving wild animals?
I did some flying to capture some of the scenes, others were stock footage.
10. How was casting an actor to play yourself?
I was provided a video clip of suggested people, Luke Harger was very close to me in his easy mannerisms, and he also knew Chandler Oja very well and they made a great team.
11. This is also a story about a friendship between two young men lost in the wildness, what is the message you are trying to communicate to your audience?
Totally, Mick (played by Chandler Oja) and I had very good chemistry and are great friends today. Our comradery showed up well in the film. That was our hope.
12. I particularly enjoyed the drawings and the animations. Who is the designer and how did you work together to better express the themes and emotions?
The Animation was provided through Tom Livingston who did a great job!
13. What’s next for you? What are you working on at the moment?
We are working on a sequel to ALH adding more narrative acting and a fantastic search and rescue scene, recreating the helicopter crash from the film. There is a lot more to that event than we were able to provide in this film, the new one called Alaska Rescue Story. I have been flying shooting B roll for the new film already, pretty exciting stuff that should keep the audience holding onto their seats for sure! See more www.alaskarescuestory.com and follow our progress by signing up for our newsletter there… Coming (God willing) in 2022.
Thanks for this interview Alice and hope to see you soon!
