Hometown skiing phenoms Maggie Voisin and Parkin Costain, aka the Powder Cowboys, present the Stumptown Film Festival at the Majestic Valley Arena on Saturday, Nov. 7, just two dozen days before opening day of the ski season on Big Mountain. 

"We just want to have a film festival and get people excited for winter, raise some money, and stoke people out and have the kids get excited," Voisin said. "Honestly, I feel like that's a big thing."  

This is the third time Voisin and Costain have brought the film fest to the Flathead. Previously, the event featured the duo's new Teton Gravity Research film along with several shorts. This time, they've saved their TGR movie for later, allowing the shorts to steal the show. 

"Maggie and I have curated this list of athletes we want to bring out, who we know have really cool projects from this past season," Costain said. "So, instead of one film beginning to end ... these films will all be 6 to 20 minutes, but they're really well made by really cool people. 

"Rather than just Maggie and me being the only athletes from TGR in town, now we have like eight athletes from all across the world that are going to be there," he added. 

Athletes expected to be at the Majestic include local Jason Robinson, Sam Kuch from Nelson, B.C., Dylan Siggers, Jonah Williams, Alex Lundstrom and Dillon Flinders. Tonje Kvivik and Manon Loschi are also featured but couldn't make the trek from Europe. 

Voisin and Costain combined the gripping short films with their famous raffle, vendors, food trucks, beverages and music, to help folks in the Flathead get pumped for the upcoming ski season. 

The format change brings the event closer to what the two always had in mind. 

"This is, originally, what our plan was — to bring something unique and different, and to create something that our younger selves would have loved to have gone to," Voisin said.

PROCEEDS FROM ticket sales and the raffle will go to the Flathead Freeride Team. Last year, the event raised about $8,600 for the freeride team, and Costain and Voisin are hoping to raise $10,000 this year. 

Coach Kyle Taylor and the Flathead Freeride Team created the Maggie Voisin and Parkin Costain Scholarships to be given to one girl and one boy in the club to help them through the season, financially. 

Outriders Present, the production company that owns the Majestic Valley Arena, waived the fees for the venue. 

The raffle, once again, will be epic, thanks to Voisin and Costain's sponsors stepping up with donations. Raffle prizes include skis from K2 and Nordica, gear from Norrona, Backcountry, Scott, Giro, Switch Fleece, and lift tickets to Whitefish Mountain Resort, Lookout Pass and Big Sky. There will also be gear from Onewheel, GoPro and the Montana Knife Company. 

"That's like our favorite thing is emailing all our sponsors or other sponsors we're in contact with and trying to get as much free stuff as possible," Voisin said. 

Elevator music on repeat accompanied the nearly hour-long raffle last year, so this time around, a DJ has been lined up to play and add to the hype. 

Keeping with the community feel of the event, a Montana artist designed the merch and local Thomas Carloss, who works for Outriders, is helping pull the festival together. 

"Thomas had this vision for trying to help create this film festival, and he and I grew up in kindergarten, middle school, high school together," Costain said. 

In addition to ski sponsors Nordica, the company that recently signed Costain, and K2, the company Voisin represents, local organizations like Flathead Avalanche Center and the Nate Chute Foundation will be on hand, as well as the Flathead Freeride Team and Whitefish High School FREEFLOW students. 

When a student from the FREEFLOW club asked Voisin if they could set up a booth at the film festival to raise funds to fix the club bus which broke down recently in Oregon, she responded immediately, "Heck yeah!" 

"Maggie and Parkin are not only inspiring local athletes; they are great community-oriented humans that have not forgotten where they came from," Whitefish science teacher and FREEFLOW leader Eric Sawtelle said. 

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE of the Stumptown Film Festival, Costain said they are starting a new film contest where up-and-coming filmmakers and athletes will have a chance to premiere films at the festival next year. 

Costain's current gig with Teton Gravity Research was kick started when he won a film contest as a 16-year-old. 

"Quicksilver used to do this event where a bunch of kids from around the world could all enter a film contest with all their clips from throughout the season," he said. "I won that event, got $10,000. It helped me go to Alaska, where I got to film more footage, which then jumpstarted my career with TGR. So, it's just like a doorway into the industry." 

That particular contest no longer exists, so Costain and Voisin are looking to recreate the opportunity and provide another avenue for skiers and filmmakers. 

Voisin cites local skier and filmmaker Aiden Croskrey, who is making incredible ski edits for phenomenal skiers and industry legends. He worked with "insane athlete," Sam Kuch, from Nelson, B.C., on a film that will be shown at the Stumptown Film Fest called "Dweller." 

"That's what this festival is about. It's about bringing the community together, giving back to the next generation and to the community that raised us, but then also helping out someone who wants to have a career in skiing," Voisin said. 

"We'll just see what that grows into," Voisin said of the film contest, just in its first year. "More than anything, [the goal is] just getting everyone together and getting them stoked for winter." 

Doors open at 6 p.m. and the films begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at events.leapevents.com. 

Reporter Julie Engler can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support.

    Maggie Voisin and Parkin Costain present the Stumptown Film Festival at the Majestic Valley Arena on Saturday, Nov. 7. (Image provided)