Most adults in today’s modern world grew up playing video games. For many children, opening up a gaming was the greatest gift they could possibly receive. A favorite video game often has more of an impact on a child than a favorite book, and people become nostalgic when talking about them.

Producer and director Mariana Wahrhaftig is one of those people. For her, like so many others, Nintendo was the system of choice, and Zelda was the game. But, for Wahrhaftig, she doesn’t have to talk about “the good old days” playing the game, because Zelda is her present.

Wahrhaftig was a producer for the third season of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses – Master Quest. The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses is a concert that features music and video from the acclaimed video game The Legend of Zelda series where new and exclusive musical arrangements are played by a full live orchestra and choir in sync with vides played on a giant screen. Master Quest is the third season of this concert.

“The Legend of Zelda was my childhood. I fell in love with the games after playing them, and have loved them ever since. The games’ soundtracks were basically the soundtracks to my childhood,” said Wahrhaftig.

As producer, she was responsible for all the new creative content of the show. She supervised the pieces, as well as produced it. She was in charge of the new piece for the Majora’s Mask game, which was a request from Nintendo, since they were releasing a remake of the 2000 game. She also was responsible for writing, and providing direction for the videos they recorded with the game creators. She directed creative content and produced the new videos, and some updates requested by Nintendo. She also worked a bit of tour logistics.

“I loved the fact that I got to work with my favorite video game, and bring life to pieces that would touch the hearts of fans and take them back down memory lane and re-live the moments from their childhoods,” she said.

Wahrhaftig worked alongside Bill Panks, a composer who orchestrated the Majora’s Mask piece under her direction, and Daniel Johnson, the editor of the videos that accompanied the music. Johnson described working with her as a “total blast.”

“We had so much fun on this project, and her insight and fandom for the Zelda games really helped guide me along in the edit, since at the time I had never played any of the games myself,” said Johnson. “Her knowledge and passion for all the little details of the Zelda universe really helped flesh out the final videos to be as rich and specific as possible for all the fans who came to the show.”

Wahrhaftig agrees that the experience was a great one, especially because of those she worked with.

“The videos are a huge part of the show, and they have to be perfectly in sync with the music, and Dan and I spent hours on end in front of his computer getting things just right,” she said. “He’s a star, he truly made the videos amazing. He knows his craft, and he does it really well.

I got to work with some great people who are very talented, and I am very thankful for that.”

The pressure was on for Wahrhaftig to deliver, as Zelda fans have a love for the game that is unlike most other video games.

“You want to make things that are true to the original games, and that are at Nintendo’s standards. You aren’t dealing with your own content, and so, everything you do, you have to make sure you do it right,” she said.

And it looks like she did, as The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses – Master Quest received extremely positive reviews, and is described as something every fan must see. And who better to do this, than a true fan.

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The greatest forms of art are often achieved when one is pushed to their limits, when challenges that are presented seem impossible to overcome, but effort and determination lead to the shining light that is great success. And beyond that, the greatest sense of accomplishment can often be creating such a masterpiece where the reward is not monetary, but knowing what you have created will be appreciated by so many people, and forever changed your outlook on life. Not many people ever get to experience such a feeling, but filmmaker Carlisle Antonio is one of the lucky few.

Antonio spent months in gruelling conditions on a volunteer project in Alaska, making a series of films for the National Park Service that they will use for all the Park visitor centers around the United States as well as for distribution via the Internet, social media and NPS sites. It involved working primarily as the caretaker for the Bremner Historic District, which is situated deep in the Wrangell-St Elias mountains, staying in a primitive cabin that was part of the Yellow Band Gold Mines base camp from 1939 to 1941.

“It was challenging in every aspect, physically, emotionally and mentally. Having to live in extremely remote conditions surrounded by glaciers and steep mountains, with Grizzlies and other wildlife, collecting drinking water from glacial streams with temperatures that would chill every bone in your body, watching eagles playing amidst majestic mountains and landscapes,” said Antonio. “I refer to Alaska as  ‘Gods Painted Landscape’”.

Antonio has a vast amount of experience directing and producing films. As CEO of Red Man production films, he travels the globe telling the stories that need to be told. His success comes from the passion he has for filmmaking.

“It’s a medium that can have an immediate and powerful impact on people around the world from all walks of life,” he said. “It can transcend race, culture, religion, politics and prejudice and can build bridges that can play an important role in understanding the world we live in through all its complexities.”

This is the exact experience Antonio had in Alaska. With each rising sun, a new set of challenges were presented to him, while still combatting the difficult and harsh weather that the North can bring.

“To be so isolated, making a wrong decision can literally mean losing your life,” he described.

The change in his usual scenery allowed Antonio to learn and experience many things. He explained that he learned how to use satellite radios, talk to pilots, take weather readings off the mountains, maintain hiking trails, camp in wilderness, bear safety and the dangers of bears, camp safety, river crossings, trek through hazardous terrain, glacier crossings, how to read the terrain and signs of animal activity, trek though wilderness and back country, maintain cabins and campsites, give advice to visitors, and help plan hiking and trekking routes safely. He learned how to read topographical maps, maintain a strict camp discipline. He learned how to use solar paneling to charge phones, batteries and radios. But beyond what is practical, he learned much more.

“I learned how to live with myself in a way that I was deeply fulfilled, physically, emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. I learned about the difference between the things we need and the things we think we need. I learned about silence and the natural rhythms of the earth and what we call wildlife. I learned about awe and beauty and humility,” he described. “Because living in a place such as this, you realize the fragility of our own mortality and the delusions that we are in control.”

The National Park Service will benefit for years due to Antonio’s volunteerism. Without him, such a project may not have been possible.

“To be surrounded in such beauty and in a place where conventional time really didn’t exist; I felt a freedom that cannot be found anywhere else,” he said. “With no electricity and the normal everyday city trappings, like phones, Internet, Facebook, etc. its like throwing out all your stresses and anxieties and finding out what it means to be alive. What is not to enjoy about that?”

Antonio donated his time, and ample amount of experience and success in filmmaking for a project that has meant so much. The true definition of selfless art.

“I guess Alaska taught me how to be alive and thankful for being part of this amazing journey that we know as life,” he concluded.