The Art of Flight
Travis Rice leads a crew of elite snowboarders, including John Jackson, Mark Landvik, Scotty Lago, Jake Blauvelt, Nicolas Muller, Gigi Ruf, DCP, and Pat Moore, across a season of backcountry riding shot by helicopter in Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, Wyoming, Aspen, and the Italian Alps. Director Curt Morgan and the Red Bull Media House crew mix ride footage with behind-the-scenes material showing the logistics of chasing storm windows, scouting untouched lines, and waiting out weather that can shut down a shoot for days. The film opens with a sequence shot at Victoria Falls before settling into its main structure, jumping between locations as the riders push bigger cliff drops and longer backcountry lines than earlier snowboard films attempted. Injuries happen on camera, including a serious spill that sidelines one rider mid-shoot, and the crew keeps filming through it. The cinematography, much of it aerial, is the reason the film became a reference point for action-sports camerawork rather than just another riding video.