As snow starts to fall in the mountain peaks of northwest Montana and Whitefish Mountain Resort officials prepare for opening day, local professional skiers Maggie Voisin and Parkin Costain are stoking ski-season spirits with the inaugural Stumptown Film Festival, which premieres on Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Majestic Valley Arena.
Voisin and Costain have partnered with Outriders Presents to host the festival, featuring a handful of ski and snowboard films, $10,000 in raffle prizes, vendors and a full bar. DJ Heminguey will be bumping beats during the festival and Missoula-based indie folk-rock band Cascadel will play the 21-and-older after party at the Remington Bar. Doors open at 6 p.m. with the first film rolling at 7 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the Flathead Freeride team.
Thomas Carloss of Outriders Presents said the owner is donating the venue in-kind to Voisin and Costain to help raise the maximum amount of dollars for the ski program.
“It’s a great cause and something we are very proud to support,” Carloss said in an email.
Organizations including Legacy Bike Park, Seaba Heli, Flathead Avalanche and the Nate Chute Foundation will have booths at the festival.
Growing up skiing together at Whitefish Mountain Resort, Voisin and Costain joined the freestyle ski team and eventually carved out their own professional ski careers. When Voisin was just 14 years old, she landed on the U.S. and Snowboard Team, launching her career as a slopestyle and big air athlete that led her to three Olympics and seven X Games medals.
Meanwhile, Costain’s skiing trajectory veered a different path toward professional freeride, winning two film awards by age 18 and landing in his first Teton Gravity Research (TGR) film, “Far Out,” in 2018 while he was still a teenager.
But after Voisin chose to step back from the U.S. Ski Team and shift toward freeride in 2023, their worlds collided once again when she and Costain reunited in the backcountry to shoot for TGR’s “Legend Has It.”
The duo has starred in TGR movies together annually ever since, and they have hosted the films in Whitefish for the past two years. But with Stumptown Film Festival, the larger venue offers a variety of flicks that support other local skiers and snowboarders at a more central location.
“Instead of the TGR film, we really wanted to bring in more athletes and have something different,” Voisin said.
Films include a diverse blend of action and narrative-style segments, including a clip of local snowboarder Jason Robinson’s sophomore film “Mosey: A Hitchhiking Snowboard Odyssey,” which he filmed, narrated and produced.
Whitefish filmmaker Aidan Croskrey will show his film “Dweller” featuring skiers Sam and Adam Kuch, while several Canadian athletes hailing from Nelson and Fernie also star in other films.
Voisin and her dad are featured in an Explore Whitefish-sponsored film, while Costain will show his project called “Core Shot,” which he said entailed “ripping on schwaggy snow” in Cooke City last spring.
“Last year was a weird season,” Costain said. “I went on some cool trips, but the weather was marginal, and we kept traveling to these destinations where the snow wasn’t ideal. I wanted to create a project no matter what – so we went to Cooke City in May and June. It was the best segment of the season. It’s a unique piece.”
While the films are less than 20 minutes long, Costain describes the projects as longform compared to Instagram reels.
Both Voisin and Costain reflected on their youth when they curated the program, bringing in a variety of athletes, films and vendors to round out the event.
“Parkin and I selfishly wanted to create something that our younger selves would want to attend,” Voisin said.
Tickets can be purchased here.
