In memory of Javier Garcia Perea and Tony Brinsdon.

Talk of Carlos Garcia Knight stepping back from the snowboarding spotlight due to health issues back home surfaced a few seasons ago and as time went on the news of his father was a reminder of the importance of family over snowboarding. As Carlos touches on in Now Is Not A Good Time, he spent six months with his dad before he passed (and a lot of time leading up to those months as well) and as any of us would, struggled after to put his energy anywhere. Then came Izrayl Brinsdon. A 32-year-old skate filmer from Australia that lost his father to cancer as well messaged Carlos on Instagram, keen to work with him and as it goes, “Everything else just kind of fell into place.”

We chatted with Izrayl, the director, a bit to get a sense of why they both felt it was important to make this project.

Would you want to describe your father? What was he like?
My dad has always been the reason I do anything these days. The reason I film for a job is because of him, he marched to his own beat… He would constantly say to me and my siblings from a young age, ‘you don’t want to work for someone else, you want to do soemthing you love.’ I acquired my music taste from him as well as started skateboarding because of him, I kind of owe it all to both him and my mum now.

How did you and Carlos meet?
I had always been a fan of his snowboarding and wanted to film something with him for a while. I had just finished another project and was kind of starting to get itchy feet. I was talking to him over Instagram and mentioned I’d be keen to do something together and he was super down. Everything else just kind of fell into place.

You are normally in the skate world?
I had just finished a skateboarding video for Spitfire Wheels called ‘Scenic’. I’ve probably been in it only around four years now, it kind of happened organically. I edited a part for my friend’s company ‘Come Sundown’. A heap of filmers contributed footage for it; after that I was keen to do it all myself so I kind of went from there.

Was there a reason you chose to only use 16mm film for this? No digital?
Yeh, Carlos and I both have a hinge interest in 16mm, he uses it a lot for filming stuff himself. I wanted it to look like a snowboard video from the late 90s. Carlos has a raw style, similar to a lot of snowboarders in that era in my opinion, it only felt right.

Was filming this project cathartic in any way?
For sure. For me it was. I definitely struggle a bit mentally daily and my dad would put things into perspective normally and help me understand why I feel the way I do when I overthink things… Not having that anymore is really challenging however, I feel like when I am really fixated on a project and want it to be the best it can possibly be, my mind tends to not worry about what’s going on around me. It was nice to feel that relief throughout this project.

Why did you feel it was important to make this project?
For sure there was the whole point of this. I wanted to make a snowboard video that went a little deeper. That was always what I wanted to achieve.

I just think it’s important to talk about these kind of hardships, I know for me when I lost my parent it was like the elephant in the room at that age and no one would ever really mention or talk about my dad. Maybe someone who’s going through the same thing can see this and it can make them feel some type of way, that others have been through it too.

I’d also love to give a huge shout-out to Carlos, I can’t speak for him on what he’s going through at the moment. I can however, say he is wise beyond his years and has such a great head on his shoulders. It was and still is such a turbulent time for him, to be able to film a video part and let me film it in this way has been raw for him, and I can’t thank him enough for putting up with me and having me involved. Thanks to his mum, Jackie, for everything she’s done to help with this project as well. Also big thanks to my family for helping always.

Oh, also major shout out to our guide, Will Jackways. I’d never filmed in the backcountry before and that stuff is no joke. Will held it down and made me feel safe everyday.