“SNO-CIETY” is a fitting title of Warren Miller Entertainment’s 76th film, which premieres in Salt Lake City on Oct. 18, because it focuses on the bonds winter-sports athletes forge across the world.
This year’s movie, which will also screen in Oct. 25 at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts in Park City, takes viewers to Scotland, British Columbia, Finland, Austria and even the Pacific Coast of La Jolla, California, where surfer Judd Henkes honed the skill he has successfully transferred to his snowboarding craft.
One of the segments takes place in Whitewater, in Nelson, British Columbia, and features Ellie Weiler and Katie Kennedy, who are based in Salt Lake City.
“I’m actually moving to Salt Lake on Saturday,” Weiler said during a call from her parents’ home in Colorado earlier this week. “I was in Oregon in the summer. So this is a nice pit stop before winter starts.”
Kennedy, on the other hand, spends autumns and winters in Salt Lake City.
“I spend my time there at this time of year because it snows sooner than some of the other places,” she said. “My homies are here, and Warren Miller premieres always come through.”
The segment that features Weiler and Kennedy richly embodies the community theme in “SNO-CIETY.”
It was filmed at the backcountry freestyle snowboard competition known as RnD (Research and Development), created by award-winning snowboarder Robin Van Gyn, and one of the event’s goals is to shine a light on the emerging community of women snowboarders, Kennedy said.
“Creating community is especially important for women’s snowboarding,” she said. “This emphasis on community is fairly new in the sport, not in the sense that it hasn’t been happening, because it has been like an underground movement of sorts.”
As a rising snowboarder, Weiler couldn’t believe how friendly everyone was at the event, which took place at the end of February.
“They didn’t need to be welcoming, but you have people like pioneering (snowboarder and filmmaker) Jess Kimura inviting us and Robin doing things to help people like me get a foot in the door in the backcountry,” she said. “Coming from Colorado, we have some backcountry stuff, but the allocation danger is high. So to figure it all out and stay safe is obviously important, and to learn from everybody at RnD was fantastic.”
Weiler got to spend time with her idols, Van Gyn and Sarka Pancochova and Kennedy.
“That was our pod group, but everyone who was there was always willing to help,” she said. “I also got to ride a chairlift with Hana Beaman, Marie-France Roy and Kimmy Fasani.”
Kennedy said returning to RnD for a second year gave her a new opportunity.
“It let (me) help first-year riders, which is another part of the event,” she said. “You don’t worry if this person will beat me. You just want to see them succeed.”
Before Kennedy was asked to become a featured athlete in the Warren Miller film, she decided she wanted to keep a low profile this year.
“I’m a very chatty person and decided not to talk at all during the event,” she said. “But then (Warren Miller Entertainment) asked me to be mic’d up and interviewed, and that made me appreciate the event and community even more. It was exciting for me to take on the responsibility to be an advocate and represent RnD.”
Being asked to be part of the Warren Miller film was “surreal” for both athletes.
“I didn’t grow up in a mountain town with a bunch of people who were snowboarders and skiers,” said Kennedy, who hails from the Jersey Shore. “My family and myself learned about winter sports together by driving far away, and I remember as a little kid Warren Miller introduced me to the production side of winter sports.”
Weiler’s family also loved the films.
“I’m in my basement looking at a Warren Miller movie box set, ‘The Power of Snow,’ which my aunt and uncle got us for Christmas when my brother and I were really young,” she said. “My aunt and uncle always go to the premiere every year, so it’s really special. It feels like validation in a weird way.”
Within the last five years, Kennedy has noticed companies and brands like Warren Miller have started to explore different ways to help women in winter sports.
“They know these women are going to get really good and become great representations for the sport, and help it grow across the board,” she said. “So, being part of this Warren Miller film feels more special because we’re part of showcasing what we’re doing. I think this exposure and support will hopefully create more of these types of experiences and make a stronger community.”
Kennedy summed up what being in a Warren Miller movie feels like for both athletes.
“But to be a part of it now feels like we made the right decisions in life,” she said.
Weiler said participating in her first Warren Miller film while competing in her first RnD was another surreal experiment.
“I am a very competitive person in general — even just playing a card game, winning is fun,” she said with a laugh. “But going to RnD for the first time, I was almost allowed not to put pressure on myself. Because you’re around all of these snowboarders who have been doing this longer than I have, and every drop you do you have people cheering you on right there or at the bottom watching you come in. There’s just a different vibe, and it’s been so nice to be part of both events a little bit.”
The double whammy of competing and appearing in “SNO-CIETY” was a little daunting for Kennedy.
“I’m more of (a person for) film-snowboarding with teamwork where everybody is winning, but because this event is so community driven, organic and authentic, you find you’re not just a rider,” she said. “We’re all helping in every part of the event. So what made being in the Warren Miller segment different was we were all helping grow this event. Had it been the X-Games, I probably wouldn’t have been as eager to be part of a documentary.”
Warren Miller Entertainment’s ‘SNO-CIETY’
- When and Where:
- 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 18, Abravanel Hall, Salt Lake City
- 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 20, Clarke Grand Theatre, Orem
- 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 22, Peery’s Egyptian Theater, Ogden
- 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 24, Ellen Eccles Theatre, Logan
- 2 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 25, The Ray, Park City
- Tickets: warrenmiller.com/events
- Web: warrenmiller.com
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.parkrecord.com ’
