Adrenaline junkies, beware: the 2011 Radical Reels Film Tour hits town this Saturday, and it’s been put together with the thrill-seeking population in mind. A spin-off of the Banff Mountain Film Festival, which blows through town every February, Radical Reels is the cream of the extreme sports crop, a collection of films chosen from more than 300 submissions.
“This is a night for people who like Banff but don’t want to see the cultural films or the human stories. It’s fun, it’s higher energy,” Radical Reels Coordinator Meagan Stewart says from her desk in Canada. “You should have your after-party planned.”
This year’s tour features nine short films ranging in length from three to 26 minutes and packed with enough action to spice up an entire year. “That keeps you on the edge of your seat. Just when you get used to something we switch it up,” says Stewart.
It may be hard, though, to “get used to” watching, say, an art teacher in a powder blue vintage suit trailed by random cars while skateboarding at insane speeds (50-70mph) down Sierra Mountain roads in Second Nature. It’s more likely to leave viewers wishing they could rewind each film and watch it again.
“It’s about the feeling. They’re free, they’re just riding, there’s no sports element to it. They’re just there to be out in nature and to experience the adrenaline rush that comes with it,” says Second Nature producer Colin Blackshear, whose camera equipment was confiscated and held for six months after the crew was caught skateboarding granite hills in Yosemite.
Also on the menu is a heart-stopping dose of base jumping, white knuckle scenes of white water paddling, suspense-filled boulder and mountain climbing, mountain biking and a hilarious documentary on cross country snowboarding—a spoof on extreme sports films chock full of Canadian humor Stewart says “got lost in the Midwest” but will hopefully rub Santa Cruz the right way.
One component of Radical Reels that Santa Cruz will appreciate is the range of experimental techniques surfacing in the genre of sports footage. Take Renan Ozturk’s mountain climbing film Living the Dream, for instance, in which “point of view” shots of Ozturk were filmed with a camera inside of a hydration pack and duct-taped to the end of a microphone stand. The film reveals the “dirt bag climber” lifestyle Ozturk led for six years, traveling like a vagabond and hitching rides to the next rock face, living on almost nothing and even dumpster diving—a testament to the fact that you don’t have to be blessed with a trust fund and a closet full of North Face to take to the extreme wild.
Ironically, Ozturk is now a sponsored North Face Athlete.
“With these films I find myself talking about how they are celebrations of living the dream, an act of exhilarating life. These films all come together with that theme,” says Stewart.
Local aficionados of trick bike riding will recognize Aptos native Cam McCaul in Follow Me, a film about cyclists who search the surface of the earth for trails and jumps as aggressively as any extreme snowboarders. Santa Cruz will also vibe on the fact that this year’s tour features more women than usual. The Storming features footage of some seriously hardcore snowboard chicks shredding big mountain drops, and the charismatic Swiss climber Nina Caprez pulls off some dangerous boulder climbs at the foot of Argentina’s Tuzgle volcano in the quirky, French humor-laden film Tuzgle.
Now in its sixth year, Radical Reels has 60 screenings in the United States, and has expanded to include 20 screenings in Australia and Germany as well.
“We’re always looking for feedback, so [viewers] shouldn’t be shy,” says Stewart. “It’s great to hear from people about what kind of films they want to see, and we pass the feedback along to the filmmakers.”
RADICAL REELS FILM TOUR
Saturday, Sept. 24, 7pm
Classroom Unit 2, UCSC
$5 students/$10 general at 831.459.2806 or at Pacific Edge Climbing Gym.
