Sweetgrass - "Signatures"

The latest press release that I have received from the boys of Sweetgrass.  It appears to be another busy tour season for the crew.  I am excited to see the final release.  The buzz around these guys is absolutely electric and I am personally fired up.  The Sweetgrass vibes are the most organic thing in snow films today.  They bring the art of the film/riding/natural worlds into rythym in a way that to see it is more an inside experience then just a movie from the Red Box.


For Immediate Release


SWEETGRASS PRODUCTION’S SIGNATURES


Every Turn Has it's Own Personality

Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan – June 11th, 2009


After an entire winter of filming deep in the hardwoods of Hokkaido, Japan, the Sweetgrass family brings you Signatures, a story of expression, and the art of riding on snow. Every turn has a personality, and every personality 

has it's own unique style: the air, the turn, the spin, the grab, the laid-out cutback carve. 


At the heart of this lovely tale of deep powder mystery: the seasons. In Japan there is a cultural connection to the different Signatures of our terrestrial home- a sense that the rhythm of fall, winter, spring, summer, influences the rhythm of the person, their energy, their style, and the lines they choose. Niseko local photographer Yoichi Watanabe explains, “As a photographer, the change in season brings a change of subject. I have to be ahead of this change in nature, like I have to be thinking about flowers before they actually bloom in order to capture what really goes on. I can say the same about the snow as well.” 


Powder riding is only part of it. In spring we fire up the barbeque and laugh about the deliciously deep turns in January, about Matt Philippi spinning into the setting Japanese sun. We talk about Nick Devore and Will Cardamone

cowboying 50 degree spines that only the local locals know about, about the the slough, the sounds, the snow, the tomahawk. We hike up in our t-shirts and breath deep, riding corn snow down to the waves of the Japan Sea. The trees bloom, and our bodies sink deep into lawn chairs under the heat of the spring sun. Between slurps of cheap beer, we mutter about the fly rod, about the 29er, about rivers, the cold water. We look up at lines that used to be buried under 20 feet of snow, now covered in bamboo and lush green. Every season has it's Signature, it's emotion, it's rhythm, and it's influence on the skiers, the riders, the surfers, the bikers, the boaters, and the fat tire crowd that call the mountain and sea home. 


Signatures premiering Sept. 18th, 2009 in Montreal at IF3 Festival, on tour in the US, Canada, and Japan, and available on DVD this fall. www.sweetgrassproductions.wordpress.com and www.Sweetgrass-Productions.com for updates and the latest beat from the Sweetgrass family. 

Brought to you by PATAGONIA, DYNAFIT, BLACK DIAMOND, FLYLOW


This here is a little flashback to the January teaser they made of the time that I was in Hokkaido last winter.  When was the last time you saw a ski movie teaser quite like this, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.