“We’re all one day away from a life we don’t recognize.”
An intimate story about grief and the healing power of art following the devastating 2024 Jasper Wildfire is making its debut on the world’s largest mountain arts stage.
Embers, a new film directed by Kimberley-based filmmaker Trixie Pacis and starring Jasperite Sasha Galitzki, who lost her home and everything in it last July, premieres at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival November 4.
“I lost my home and I lost all my things, but I still have my art, and I have my love for Jasper. Those are my sources of light. Those are my embers,” Galitzki says.
With perfect pace, arresting visuals and a dramatic score, Pacis’ film captures the journey of helplessness to hopefulness that Galitzki and so many of her fellow Jasperites have travelled. The film is a sequel to the 2024 documentary Wild Aerial, which followed Galitzki, a circus arts performer, as she executed dizzying acrobatics in ice-bound locations in the Canadian Rockies. Embers builds off of the success of that film and catalyzes Galitzki’s message as a climate change activist as she confronts the realities of a warming world.
“My hope is that no one else will have to go through what Jasper has but the reality is that more will,” she said.
Before the wildfire, Galitzki was happy to indulge in the recreational pleasures that living in a mountain community can afford, but was reluctant to stick her neck out on matters of public discourse. In the 15 months following the climate change disaster, however, she’s shed her introvert’s skin. Now, with the encouragement of her fellow creatives, ice athletes and glaciologists like Dr. Alison Criscitiello, who won the 2025 BMFBF Summit of Excellence Award and lends a scientific perspective to the project, Galitzki has realized hers is a story worth sharing.
“The fear of not saying anything when I have the power to say something felt more scary than any fear of public speaking,” she said.
Following the premiere of Embers, Galitzki will put that resolve to the test at the Banff Centre’s Fire & Ice Symposium when she and Pacis discuss telling stories in times of distress and challenge with care and a commitment to truth.
“The evidence and facts about our climate are abundantly clear, but there’s still a disconnect and widespread disbelief,” Pacis says. “By weaving art, adventure, science, and storytelling, we hope our film can resonate on a deeper level across diverse audiences and help move the needle.”
For Galitzki, who like many Jasperites found themselves in a state of deep loss following the wildfire last year, the chance to put words to action will be one more step in emerging from the embers.
“I’m starting to rediscover a recognizable version of myself,” she says in the film. “But we’re all just one day away from a life we don’t recognize.”
Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com
