Words & photos: Meg Haywood Sullivan
The world of snowboarding is a dream of chasing powder, hunting for rails, the quest to explore and getting lost in the snowy world around us. We buy into this dream that we consider our reality. We skip work to ride and lust after the segments in every snowboard film. These dreams of ours rest on the shoulders of snowboard riders, filmers and photographers whose documentation and idealization of our lifestyle keep us stoked and wanting more.
There are two ends to the spectrum of snowboard films, and budget dictates which film company lies in which category. A wide range of film production companies capture the allure of the snowboard industry bringing revenue, originality, and appeal. On one end of the spectrum lies the big budget/big name/corporate influenced productions and on the opposite end resides the smaller, less funded film companies who tailor their creation to a more core audience. If you haven’t seen One yet and you don’t know about Givin Vids, the Givin crew lies in the latter category and their films put soul back into snowboard film making.
The Givin Crew | Photo: Meg Haywood-Sullivan | CHECK OUT THE FULL GALLERY
I stumbled upon the Givin crew at this year’s Legendary Baker Banked Slalom. Filmer Aaron Hooper had his 16 mm film camera on course and I couldn’t help but say hi. It wasn’t long before I was welcomed in as part of the crew shooting, riding, and couch surfing at their gypsy hostel in the foothills of the Cascades. Givin is a new film production company that brings together riders Wyatt Stasinos, Alex Stathis, Forrest Burki, Forrest Bailey, Keegan Valaika, and many more with an organic approach to filming. The crew collaborates with each individual bringing their unique perspective and talent to the film. From home-cooked family dinners, shroom inspired tirades and early morning wake ups for shotcrete slashes in Cascade crud, these guys are the real deal. This year’s new film Too will be showcasing the journey with everything from ghetto blasters in the streets, “Too” pow hungry shredding in the mountains with motivated riders driven by fun.
Givin is rough around the edges. There are tight budgets, close quarters at home base and things get weird with prolonged isolation living deep in the woods. But the Givin guys are real snowboarders doing everything they can to make it happen. These dreamers never lose sight of what snowboarding is all about.
