Saturday, November 20, 2010

Snowboarding Films at Fest NYC Live Report - November 19 and 20, 2010


Snowboarding Films at Snow Film Fest NYC Live Report

by Lauren Traub Teton

The Snow Film Fest NYC 2010 kicked off at the Tribeca Cinemas last night and takes place November 19 and 20, 2010. This is the most snowboard fun we’ve had in NYC since last season’s Burton B movie premiere and party at the same spot. Filmmakers and athletes have flown in from as far away as Cali and Europe to support their ski and snowboard films and the public is there to show the love.

See videos with filmmakers and stars of the Snow Film Festival here.
See Snowboard Film Festival winners announcement here.

Twenty-four films have been chosen by a panel of industry experts for showing at Snow Film Fest NYC, and there will be prizes awarded in several categories including Best Feature, Best Short, Best Maneuver, Best Cinematography, Best Musical Score, and Best Animation. It’s not just a “sitting and watching films” festival because the Tribeca Cinemas has a full on bar and party room on premises and as viewers exit the theatre they are ushered right into the door of the party.

The pre-parties started on Thursday night at Snap sports bar and Epstein’s, so people were stoked and having a good time before the film part of the festival even began. Ticket specials were offered online to help keep guests from having to stand in line and advance sale tickets and movie descriptions are at snowfilmfestnyc.com.

Some of the highlights of Friday night’s snowboard films were Trans World Snowboarding’s “In Color” made by Joe Carlino, Flow’s “Witness the Sicknessand TGR’s “THE BIG ONE.” Meet Joe Carlino who is a surprisingly humble and very nice guy and his mom Maria and dad Sal, in this video. Maria is his unofficial press agent and greatest fan and supplied details of Joe’s previous awards, that Joe was too humble to offer up. Everybody should have Twifties parents like these. Maria kept the stoke going during the film and offered that “the California audience was more effusive during and after the showing.” We particularly enjoyed Chris Bradshaw's rail jam part set to Screaming Jay Hawkins “Put a Spell on You.” Seeing an athlete ride rails in two directions, that is: down, and then perpendicular was a new one on this snowboard journalist. Bradshaw aficionados Kade Madsen and the Sparta crew opined that this was not even the best they’ve seen from Bradshaw.

“Witness the Sickness” from the mind of Mutty and executed by the Flow Team is a fun offering and we’re still wondering how Tim Humphreys had the camera attached to his arm while filming himself in the air with psychedelic wind and graphics all around. And we’re loving Brandon Reis’ part set to Devo’s “Uncontrollabe Urge.” Scotty Lago is a lovable magnet for trouble as witnessed by his Olympic medal conversation on Jimmy Kimmel and a very broken motel room door with an angry owner outside. Turns out Flow is using all that footage that usually ends up on the cutting room floor and have turned it into a weekly series called “The Life” that will be released on Wednesdays. See our video interview with Kade Madsen at the Festival.

THE BIG ONE is a 16 mm compilation of 10 years of Teton Gravity Research’s epic ski and snowboard moments at their home laboratory in Jackson Hole, WY. The film premieres at the festival and we caught up with filmmaker Steve Jones who shared stories, including loading a film’s worth of reels backwards back in the day and ending up with nothing but “red.”

Saturday night expected high points on the snowboard side were the world premiere of "Todcast The Movie" starring Todd Richards. We expected zany fun ala Todd in this one as we followed Todd Richards and his crew on their misadventures through New Zealand, Alaska, and beyond as they look for snow, waves, skateparks, massage parlors, and mischief. Frankly, who wants to be on a vacation trip with a cranky Todd Richards, even if it's for snowboarding, surfing, and skating. We never did see any search for massage parlors, though the helicopter hot tub scene was a nice surprise. The filmmakers told us they had to cut out the part where Todd had settled into a lodge and made friends with a cat, while the rest of the crew was chomping at the bit waiting for filming weather.

Also Saturday night is “At Equilibrium” whose director Rene Eckert (video interview here) is traveling the world premiering his film in 40(!) locations. AT EQUILIBRIUM is the fourth of a series of eastern European snowboard documentaries. After “Poland – A snowboard documentary”, “Slovaki A true movie about snowboarding” and last years highlight “From Romania with Love” this documentary deals with the passionate people developing snowboarding in Bulgaria. The snowboarders in "At Equilibrium" are amazingly similar to the ones I meet out on the hills here but Rene tells us that a snowboard costs the equivalent of several weeks pay in Bulgaria, keeping it as a sport for the privileged or sponsored.

“Stance” is the latest effort of Jmills Ent and is an exclusively female snowboard film to that aims to start a larger initiative to push snowboarding’s creative and cinematic boundaries. We interviewed filmmaker Jeremy Mills and two of the stars, Hana Beamon and Erin Comstock at the festival and Jeremy tells us how he achieved one of the highest viewerships of all time on this movie. Stan Evans is Jeremy's partner and his radio background helped insure that each rider's part worked fantastically with her music. We came in on the end of the movie and were thrilled to see two of the most exciting, and fun parts of the season. Lisa Filzmoser (killing it in her Helly Hansen) and RaewynReid (with a TWO song part!) are new heroes on our list of exciting riders this season.

Jeremy Pettit gave us a quick interview before his humourous film Forum's "F*ck IT" played. He has made so many snowboard films he can't even remember how many. Glad this snowboard film festival is finally giving us a chance to meet the eyes behind the lenses.

One film that has me curious because unlike much snow porno, it has a plot and a very offbeat one at that, is “The Saturday Night Ride.” Listen to this: When an ex pro snowboarder is released from prison for a crime he didn’t commit, the snowboarding world he thought he could return to has become something far beyond his wildest dreams. Pro wrestling and snowboarding have become fused into an all-new sport. Every Saturday night championship bouts are broadcast live on prime time TV. The riders have all become obsessed with battling each other in the ring and on the jump, in a quest to gain the world championship belt.” We saw the film and the plot was actually a tongue-in-cheek humorous pretense for the usual multi-part snowboard film. But the most amazing thing was that they actually built a boxing ring on snow and had riders jump over it with a lively crowd cheering it all on. We love creativity and humor in snowboard films.

"Hooked" by Pirate Movie Productions out of Europe also had a plot involving imprisoned snowboard pirates trying to break out of a castle. (Why do all the films with plots feature snowboarders in prison, we wonder?) Travis Limoge, originally of Essex Junction, VT and now marketing guy of PMP explained in the Q and A session how the snowboarders were summoned to the castle in Austria, not knowing what to expect, and became actors in costume as well as doing their snowboard parts for the film.

Absinthe's "Nowhere" finished the snowboard side of the festival at 1 a.m. in fitting style. To tell you the truth, after seeing 6 snowboard films on Saturday night, I don't remember much about it! There was a late party 'til 4a.m. back at Snap but lots of people stayed around the party lounge right at the Tribeca Cinemas til after 2 a.m. on Saturday night. This year’s first ever Snow Film Fest NYC can already be declared a smashing success and next year’s will be bigger and better once the word gets out that this is the best pre-season party anywhere!

Lauren Traub Teton is a video journalist, photographer and writer covering snowboard events, athletes, and parties as well as a snowboard safety advocate. She is the founder of SnowboardSecrets.TV and SnowboardSecrets.com. Also SnowboardRegistry.com, SnowboardEventsCalendar.com, and SnowboardProfiles.com.Also Flexmeters.com Snowboard and Skateboard wrist guards designed by a doctor. And Twifties.TV, for the FUN people over 50.

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