Snowboard movie "Layers"

I am in a Red Bull Movie!

I really like how Substack allows so many different methods of creative storytelling in one publishing site—video, text, photo, whatever it takes to tell the story.

The movie starts off with Markus Cleavland. the incredible forefront of progressive snowboarding. Well worth watching his part to learn about the cutting edge of snowboarding and also listen to his interview where he talks candidly about competition and more.

Then the movie goes into China and the top riders there who won medals at the last Winter Olympics. Again great info and insight here. Everyone talks about China being the next big market for skiing and snowboarding, this gives a good look at the inside of the scene there. There is so much I did not know about snowboarding in China.

the movie then jumps top of LAAX in Switzerland. One of the key spots for snowboarding culture in Europe. I was there about 5 years ago and it left a deep impression on me. In the cafe at the base of the mountain, I met Nicolas Muller and Brusti the filmer/photographer and so many other famous snowboard personalities. I could feel that LAAX for a key power spot for the culture. Eero Ettela interviewing the movement creators behind the energy I felt there was very enlightening.

If you ever have the chance to visit LAAX I can’t recommend it enough. Maybe you will run into one fo the legends like Reto.

This film jumps all around the world introducing so many different people. Here is a great question and answer that was a pleasure to see.

So this movie is 1:28 minutes long. That is pretty damn long for a snowboard movie, but you need that length to cover the size and scope of what snowboarding has become. It is so multi-faceted and so global, but I have watched about 1/3 so far. I will take a break and pick up again tomorrow where I left off…..

Ok it has been a few days since I started writing this. Since I started this newsletter it has been snowing non-stop. Today was the opening day at Sapporo Kokusai Resort and I was able to get a few runs in on the snowboard! Boy did it feel good to be back on the board! The snow quality was amazing, soft, silky and smooth! Even though I was late to the party with my first run at about 10:30 am, there as still powder everywhere and I made a few deep turns!

I keep uploading these snow reports to my YouTube channel and people seem to like them, so… I will keep posting more!

Back to the movie.

There are so many interesting an cool people covered in this film. Park builders, freestyle crews in Canada, a guy who built a jib park called “MoonPark” and shares it with his friends. It is amazing how this sport and culture has captured so many characters around the world.

There is a great section with legend Jeremy Jones the freestyle and now Owner of Forum Snowboards! Pretty cool to see that he is back with the brand that he helped put on the map!

There is another great scene where photographer Bob Plumb is talking about how expensive going snowboarding has become and that is making the sport inaccessible to many young kids and families. How will this affect snowboarding in the long term? This is something I see happening here in Japan as well.

The section I am featured in starts at 1 hour and 14 minutes. The film has covered a lot of ground by this time and it feels like the Japan section is a relaxing break in a way.

My long-time filming partners Ue and Mino came to help as models for a day of filming nearby my house in the backcountry. There are scenes of me filming and the Pablo films crew capture the vibe perfectly. The two guys who came to shoot the movie where driving around in a camping car between Niseko and Jozankei for several days and I could see they were a little travel-weary. After our day hiking and shooting in the birch forests they both looked so happy and relaxed! They both said they finally felt like they got what they had come for.

We filmed a long interview and I had a really good time trying to share my views on Japan and the style of snowboarding that has been created and nurtured here for so many years.

They picked a very nice section of the interview to use in the film and it is a really honor to speak for Japan’s snowboard culture as a whole!

So there you have it a look at the new snowboard documentary “Layers”. it is free to watch on Red Bull.tv so please go check it out, even if it takes you a couple days to watch! Finally big respect to Eero Ettela and Knut who travelled all around the world and made the effort to interview so many of the riders, personalities and behind-the-scenes people for the film!

REDBULL.TV

Ok that is it for this edition. I will be back shortly with an announcement about a movie I have produced and edited. A new episode in the Orange Trip movie series is going to be released. This time directly through VOD (Vimeo On Demand). I will share the details in the next substack!

Orange Trip Teaser