After more than two decades together, the team at Anthill Films has been to some of the most remote parts of the planet.
“High hundreds. It’s 180, 190 locations around the world,” said Darcy Wittenburg, a director, producer and co-founder at the Squamish, B.C.-based Anthill Films.
They’re mountain bikers who were first brought together on the trails and bound by their love of filmmaking.
“I feel when I look back to 2003 we were just a bunch of kids playing with camera gear,” said Darren McCullough, Anthill Films’ head of post-production and co-founder.
They had the vision, even if the budget and technology weren’t there at the start.
“In the early days of cable cam filming I would get in a hang gliding harness and fly down the line myself using a leather glove as a brake,” said Wittenburg.
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“We were using WWII cameras, small cameras that used to be on bombers, as our helmet cams,” said McCullough.
They are now 14 films and dozens of awards into a wildly successful career.
“It’s always been about trying to capture the feeling and perspective of moving through space,” said Wittenburg.
“They are the biggest dogs in mountain bike filming,” said mountain bike athlete Lucy Van Eesteren. “They are getting these crazy shots and these crazy sound bites.”
Hardly peaking, even after 20-plus, they now have their first Emmy Award for their most recent film Anytime.
“We’re just glad to bring mountain biking to the forefront and be in the mix with these other sports that people see as more mainstream,’’ said Matt Butterworth of Anthill Film.
“It’s one of those classic things where you could never have imagined where it was going to take us our how it was going to evolve,” said Wittenburg.
“Over the last 20 years, I’ve worked with my best friends, we’ve gone to some of the most remote places,” said Anthill Films co-founder Colin Jones.
“To be in this world, I don’t know, I fell like it’s a dream come true.”
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