RECORD NUMBER OF SKI/BOARD FILMS
11th Feb 2013
The 8th Sheffield Adventure Film Festival film is a showcase for local and British film-making talent with a record number of films and more screens than ever before. We’re showing 80 films of which twenty are ski & board films. There are three special Ski/Board screenings.
Festival Director Matt Heason said: “Ski and board films are stronger than ever at this year’s festival. It’s amazing that a quarter of all the films we’re showing are in the ski & board category. We’re particularly proud to be premiering The White Line directed by 21 year old Sheffield University philosophy student, Ismar Badzic.
“As ever there’s plenty of big budget tricks and flips movies but what’s noticeable is a real focus on story-telling. A recurrent theme is risk versus reward with skiers and snowboarders like Jake Cornish, Xavier de la Rue and Andreas Fransson asking themselves the question ‘Is is worth it?’”
NEW FOR 2013:
- Our 2013 trailer by award-winning film-maker Alastair Lee with soundtrack by up & coming Sheffield six piece Screaming Maldini has already topped 21,000 views.
- More films, more screens - 80 films (1,680 minutes in total). With ticket sales up by 44% last year the festival’s growing with five indoor screens and one outdoor screen.
- Cityscape Cinema - Free open air Saturday evening cinema & extreme sports athlete Q&A at the amphitheatre opposite the Showroom Cinema. Brought to you by Red Bull. (Films & athletes to be announced mid Feb).
- Teen Screens - after 3 sell-out family-friendly showings last year we’ve now got 4 Young Adventurer Sessions for young children and two new Teen Screens.
- ‘Single Shot’ Adventure/Peak District Photo competition - One Shot, One Winner, Open to All. (Deadline 11th Feb).
- Photography Exhibition - Alex Ekins premieres the stills from WideBoyz alongside Lucasz Warzecha and four other landscape/adventure photographers.
- Download movies - we’ve teamed up with Steepedge to offer ShAFF visitors 20% off downloads of their collection of top adventure sports movies.
SKI & BOARD FILMS AT SHAFF 2013
Ski/Board 1 - Sat 2 Mar 21.15
The White Line
Button Up Productions eschew the helicam/big budget movie approach to get back to basics and focus on real riders juggling their passion for snow and adrenaline with the reality of working full time jobs and providing for their families. After having been caught in an avalanche snowboarder Jake Cornish is forced to face his fears and responsibilities. (Note - a special mention for director Ismar Badzic who is a University of Sheffield student!).
On the Road - Skiing The Void
Ever thought about ditching the office job to live the creative dream of making adventure sports films? Think again. The guys from Sweetgrass Productions give us a little flavour of what it was really like making 'Solitaire' (Winner of the 2012 ShAFF Artistic Film award). This segment focuses on the dilemma of when to push the limits and when to back down and go home.
Moving Forward From Traumatic Brain Injury
Danny Toumarkine suffered a traumatic brain injury snowboarding on a film trip in Montana. His brother Conar charts the whole story from the moment of the accident through his two week coma, four surgeries and physio and on to Danny's campaign for snowboarders to wear helmets.
On the Road - Hotel Portillo
In this segment, when the weather closes, the boys take a luxury break. As they put it: "Even dirtbags have their limits."
Unicorn Sashimi
Felt Soul Media are best known for their beautiful films about fishing. Last winter they saved up, bought their dream camera and teamed up with Sweetgrass Productions go hunt the mythical Hokkaido unicorn. The creature proved elusive so they went skiing and instead captured the magic of the Japanese snow surfers.
On The Road - Termas
In this chapter, stuck in a two week white out in the Andes on the edge of madness the team are reduced to measuring their food rations of cheese and pepperoni in cms and inches.
White Noise
Snowboarding's made my life amazing but many times it's come so close to taking it away from me. Xavier de la Rue fights the demons battling with the voices whispering this could be his last ride before suffocating in an avalanche or falling into a crevasse. With a 6 year old daughter should he settle for a normal life when snowboarding's his reason to live?
On the Road - 2 Years 5 Winters
This final chapter on the Clockwork Orange-like torture of the edit and the sweet agony of letting go for release to the public is exquisite.
Ski/Board 2 - FRI 1 Mar 21.30
Jenny Jones Permanent Vocation
I never went into snowboarding thinking I was going to be a pro". Jenny Jones - the UK's most successful pro snowboarder and three times X Games Gold Medallist - shares the secrets of her success and the challenges she's had to overcome to make a living doing what she loves most.
Tempting Fear
"Only by defying society's expectations can you find the true uncertainty that defines adventure". Tempting Fear takes us inside the mind of extreme skier Andreas Fransson who's been called the boldest extreme skier in a generation. Over the past 3 years he’s logged first descents in a half-dozen countries and battled back to life from an accident that nearly killed him. Incredible footage combined with musings from his blog on the meaning of life give you an insights into what it's really like living life on the edge.
2112 - Short Edit
A beautifully edited sneak preview of snowboarding's future featuring Xavier de la Rue and Ethan Morgan, from the immense mountains of Alaska to the streets of Scandinavia. (PS Can't get enough? Check our Ski & Board Films 1 to see Xavier in more reflective mood in 'White Noise').
Last Light
Stephan Drake, Forrest Shearer and Johan Jonsson go in search of big lines in Haines, Alaska, and bear witness to the phenomenon known simply as 'alpenglow' - in the words of the Sweetgrass team —"an undeniable magic… the final seconds of a day's light that give mountains impossible texture and life before falling into shadow."
Pour Vous Servir
Not your average ski/board movie. "Pour Vous Servir" (translation - 'At Your Service') takes the spirit of freestyle and goes lateral, then does a 360. Only the French could come up with Fight Club for ski bums and a naked drag race.
Ski/Board 3 - SUN 3 Mar 19.00
Ready to Fly
"It's like my future in the hands of a bunch of old dudes!" In 2009 American ski jumper Lindsay Van made the longest ever jump at Whistler beating both the men's and women's records. Follow the emotional roller coaster battle with the IOC for women's ski-jumping to become an Olympic Sport.
Shaun Palmer - Miserable Champion
7 times world champion, 6 XGames Golds, 38 elite victories and 117 career podiums in SEVEN different sports. A shocking portrait of Shaun Palmer, the notorious bad boy of extreme sports who's partied as hard as he's trained. Featuring Sheffield mountain bike legend Steve Peat.
Like these? Then check out our other sessions:
Our Adrenaline Films session includes:
All I Can - Imagination
Catching a bus never looked so cool. Freestyle skier extraordinaire JP Auclair’s continuous downhill urban ski run on dirty slush and concrete is glorious ski porn with a deeper message about the challenges of global climate change. (See if you can spot his snapped ski tip!)
Snowkiting - Fulfilling My Dream
Passionate kite surfer Martijn van Hoek travels from the sandy dunes of the Dutch coastline to the freezing, desolate mountains of Åre, Sweden, to fulfil his ambition of snow kiting. His dream becomes a challenge in the winter blizzard conditions.
Wanna Ride
Francois Bon (aka 'Faf') is one of the pioneers of speed-riding (a combination of paragliding and skiing) and France is its spiritual home. In the decade since developing this new extreme sport Bon's achieved numerous firsts including flying the North Face of the Eiger. In this intoxicating short Bon and fellow Zag athlete Maxence Cavalcade perform an aerial duet on the slopes of Les Arcs and Val D'Isere.
Spirit of Adventure 1 includes:
Crossing the Ice
100 years after Scott and Amundsen’s tragic race to the South Pole, two Australian adventurers James Castrission and Justin Jones (Cas and Jonesy) tackle one of the last great Antarctic odysseys – getting to the pole and back completely unassisted. But on the way out they discover there’s a Norwegian on the ice – and he’s got a head start.
Mountain Films includes:
Taming the Bear
British snowboarder Julia Pickering is the first woman to climb and board down the 3 highest mountains in Arctic circle. A funny, down-to-earth, honest account of her first descent of Alaska's Mt Bear with her husband Warwick in support. (PS If you've ever wondered whether your relationship's strong enough to cope with being pinned in a basecamp tent in a snow storm, watch this!)
For more info contact Lissa Cook on 07818 411 791 / 01663 751 126 or [email protected]
For trailers, news and other events Like the Heason Events Facebook page. Follow us on twitter at @HeasonEvents and @Heason_Lissa #SheffAdvFilmFest
Notes to editors:
- ShAFF is the weekend of 1-3 March 2013 (www.shaff.co.uk) at the art deco Sheffield Showroom cinema - the UK’s biggest independent cinema outside London. (15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX / tel 0114 275 7727 or book online from mid January at www.showroomworkstation.org.uk/)
- We’re growing in the face of a global recession. Now in its 8th year, for the past seven years 100% of the audience said they’d come back again and recommend it to a friend. ShAFF 2012 was our best ever year with a 44% increase in ticket sales and more than 130,000 views of our trailer.
