Crown Media
Hallmark’s 2017 Countdown to Christmas movie, A Gift to Remember, is a heartwarming story about a woman who falls in love in the most unlikeliest of situations. The movie is re-airing in 2020. Hallmark has a wonderful way of filling their movies with Christmas magic, snow, and a wintery feel no matter when or where they’re filmed. When was A Gift to Remember filmed and where? Like many Hallmark movies, this film was shot in Canada.
A Gift to Remember was filmed in Canada, including in Vancouver and British Columbia. One of the filming locations is the Simpson Manor on Glover Road in Fort Langley, and 6th and Carnarvon in New Westminster.
In fact, BC is such a popular location for Christmas films that What’sFilming referred to it as being in “a perpetual state of Christmas.” Hallmark also filmed Mistletoe Inn and The Christmas Train in BC too around the same time.
And much like many other Hallmark Christmas movies, A Gift to Remember was filmed in August and September. A genius production crew was able to turn the hotter summer months into a winter wonderland that’s very convincing.
Interestingly, the Simpson Manor — one of the filming locations for the movie — is normally a nursing home, What’s Filming reported. For the movie, it’s being converted into a hospital where the male lead stays while he’s recovering from his bicycling accident.
@WhatsFilming bring on the fake snow lol
It looks like Commercial Drive was also a site for filming, near stores like Rosemary Rocksalt.
And 6th and Carnarvon in New Westminster was another site for filming. New Westminster, in BC, is a historically significant city, founded as the capital of the Colony of BC (1858-1866.)
@WhatsFilming Filming at 6th and Carnarvon- A Gift to Remember #tvmovie #filming #newwest
How does Hallmark give its movies such a wintery feel, even in the summer? Much of this is due to the crew. Jamie Lake, production manager for a different Hallmark Christmas movie, told The Wall Street Journal, “Every movie wants that small cute town and there’s only so many small, cute towns within driving distance of the film zone [Vancouver area].”
So how is snow made in the summer? There are different ways, including snow blankets, a product called Krendl that’s tough to clean, fire-retardant foam, ice shavings taken from ice blocks, snow from ski slope machines, and crushed limestone. Whichever method they choose for a film, it always seems to work.
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