Brazilian Snowboarders 'Surfing The Mountains'

February 16th, 2007 at 06:13am Post Staff 43

ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)--"Surfing the Mountains" is a trilogy about two brothers searching for the best snowboarding mountains. Snowboarding is the instrument that the use to go “surfing” through local cultures and philosophies. Renowned Aspen cameraman Greg Poschman was a key part of the production.

The film premiere will take place on Sunday, February 18 at 8 p.m. at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen , Colorado.  Tickets are $50, which includes a champagne reception sponsored by Moet & Chandon Rose from 7 – 8 p.m. or $15 for the screening only. The event is a benefit for Crianças Esperanças, a Brazilian children’s charity under the auspices of UNESCO. Event sponsors include Aspen Skiing Company, Aspen magazine, Osklen, e-brigade, UNESCO, XO Vodka, Moet & Chandon.

The trilogy is directed by Brazilian entrepreneur/designer and owner of Osklen Oskar Metsavaht and produced by his brother Leonardo, who is a prominent professor and orthopedic surgeon. The Himalayan film is the third part of a three part trilogy that was filmed in Pucon, Valdez and finally the Himalaya .

The brothers ventured to the Indian Himalayas, reaching mountains 17,000 ft high. Their expedition included yoga with local yogis, meditation at the temple of the Dalai Lama, and Tibetan culture and philosophy lessons at the Tsuglagkhang complex in order to prepare for reaching the summit. Surfing down the north face of the Deo-Tiba, facing the “untouchable” Indrasan, the brothers reached the point where life and emotion fuse into a kind of magic.

The brothers began their filmmaking in the Andes when they climbed a snow-covered living volcano, the Pucón (“the house of devil” in the Mapuche language) and made their way down through a giant “snake-bow”, with 60 ft high walls, that were carved all the way down to the green valleys in its last eruption. The 27-min film was on air for more them 30 times on Brazilian cable, and a five minute version showed on Brazil TV Globo’s Fantastico and on CNN International.

The second part of the trilogy was filmed in Alaska in the Chugach Mountains, near Valdez where adventurers are seduced by the emotion of surfing the perfect powder of 60 degree slopes from as high as 9.000 ft almost to sea level. The 20-minuteversion was on air on Globo Reporter, the most popular documentary program in Brazil and the 52-min film was selected and screened at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. 

Surfing the Mountains

Director: Oskar Metsavaht

Executive Producer: Leonardo Metsavaht

Cameras: Edgar Boyles, Greg Poschman, Andrés Pinilla and Andrei Quartin

Production assistant: Mario Zulian

Still photos: Weston Boyles

Edition: Alexandre Leite and Aruanã Cavalleiro (Midmix)

Production: Terras de Aventura Produções (www.terrasdeaventura.com.br)

Entry Filed under: Movies, Snowboarding, Sports, Religion, Aspen, Travel, Post Time News