Director's Works
Arc'teryx, Tim Jordan Findlay
Jordan Findlay is a director based out of Vancouver, BC. Jordan’s work explores the connective fabric which intertwines humans with one another as well as the universe around us.
"Tim" was born out of a years-long collaboration between Tim Sackbauer, the Sackbauer family, and Arc'teryx. When Tim was in high school, he created a video project called "Tim Sackbauer Can", which was a showcase of Tim's sporting abilities and positive attitude. Tim created the video to challenge people's stigmas around the disabled community, advocating for the community to be treated with equality and respect. In many ways, our film is a continuation of Tim's first project and the ideas and intent behind it.
Tim grew up in Vail Colorado in a ski family. He, alongside the rest of his family, are all exceptional skiers with mountain culture being embedded into their DNA. Tim's sister, Lucy Sackbauer, is a professional backcountry skier and Arc'teryx athlete. Tim and Lucy presented Arc'teryx with the idea of creating a film about Tim, Tim's life, and Tim's relationship with skiing. Skiing had always given Tim an outlet of expression alongside being a place where he could escape people's preconceived notions of what he could do and who he could be. Tim truly embodies the age old saying, "Mountains are the great equalizer".
I joined the project in 2023 and got to know Tim and the Sackbauer family over the course of the year. Over time, I got to better understand Tim's perspectives on skiing, family, and life. Tim shared a lot of wisdom during our time spent collaborating. He didn't shy away from sharing both the positive and negative aspects of living with a disability in a small community and was open about some of the difficulties of growing older and feeling the relationships he has with people change over time. Arc'teryx was always extremely supportive of Tim's voice, pushing the film to not sugarcoat the more difficult aspects of Tim and his family's lived experiences.
We had the opportunity to shoot together throughout Colorado, Utah, and Austria over the course of several weeks. We hung out with Tim at his home in Vail where he showed us his day to day life. We had the chance to ski with Tim throughout Colorado and Utah, travelling the state by car and train. It became clear to me that Tim's relationship with his sisters was a core part of his world and we were fortunate to film with the three of them together in Salt Lake City; back skiing together like they did when they were children.
Tim was really interested in the filmmaking process. He self-filmed a lot of footage for the project on a Hi-8 camcorder while also doing a lot of self recorded voice over work. For me, a highlight of the film was getting to go to Denver and watch Tim get up on stage and introduce the film to a sold-out audience for the global Arc'teryx winter film tour that the project was a part of. It was a beautiful full circle moment.
Tim really wants to be treated just like any other person. He doesn't want special treatment. I think Tim got to share a lot of himself through the film and, hopefully, his voice and story will broaden an audience's perception of what life can be like living with a disability.
