ABOUT THE FILM:

Jamland is more than a concert in the woods. It’s a state of mind. This documentary explores a grassroots music festival and delves into the lives of some of the people involved. It’s a film about music, life, and love, and the way music can take us out of our day-to-day problems and make us feel better. 

Interviews with musicians Doug Burnside (Diesel Dog), Todd Gillies (Fat Cats), local slide guitar legend Dan Walsh, and Chuck Evans (Music Director, Y108) explore what makes jam music unique in comparison to other music genres. Filming for the documentary began in 2010, and the film includes live performance clips, animations and motion graphics.

The filmmakers, Robert Waldeck and Mark Tonin, are teachers at Forest Heights Collegiate in Kitchener, Ontario. Waldeck is a recognized visual artist and arts educator whose films have screened at FIFA International Film Festival (Montreal), Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (New York), National Gallery of Canada and Videoholica (Bulgaria). Tonin is well known in the local jam music scene as a songwriter, performer, organizer and promoter.

Local contributors include Dan Drysdale (sound design) and Erik O’Neill (cinematography), with original music by Fat Cats, Diesel Dog, The Blurry Pickers and Slipfish, and appearances by Dan Walsh and Kat Van Lammeren. Partial funding was provided by the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund.

Jamland was conceived in 2006 when Tonin and his Harvard Mouse band-mates visited a 90-acre piece of land owned by their mutual friend Joni Hatashita. In 2007, they built a stage in the middle of the forest, and since then, the land and stage have become a gathering point for friends to enjoy live music.