Nitro Down To Earth

Chaque année, Nitro produit des films de snowboard de grande qualité. Bon riding, bon filming, les mecs sont carré. Cette année, le projet s'appelle Down To Earth, et est centré sur Dominik Wagner, Benny Urban, Basti Rittig et Marc Swoboda. Pas les plus connus dans nos contrés, mais pas les plus mauvais ! La vidéo est bien filmée, bien propre, les tricks sont cools à voir et si vous avez raté la projection du film lors de The Reels festival, c'est le moment de vous rattraper ! Dans la suite, une interview en anglais des protagonistes de l'affaire, et un gros portfolio...

Down To Earth Full Movie

En nous envoyant le film Down to Earth, Nitro nous a aussi fait passer une interview des riders et la voici. Bon, on avait la flemme de tout traduire, alors on avait trois choix :

- ne pas la mettre, dommage,

- la passer dans google trad et la mettre tel quel, ce qui aurait donné un truc pourri,

- vous la publier en anglais.

Du coup, considérant que vous êtes tous bilingues, on a choisi la troisième option. Si vous ne comprenez pas tout, n'hésitez pas à nous demander ce que veut dire ci ou ça dans les commentaires, nous demanderons à Mme Ledentu, prof d'anglais à La Côte St André, de vous répondre dans les plus bref délais.

Interview réalisée par Knut Eliasen, le team manager Nitro. On est en pleine propagande incestueuse.

Knut: How did you guys come up with the name Down To Earth?

Marc Swoboda: I don’t know exactly how it came about, I just loved the idea of having a small crew of friends, keeping it as simple and as real as possible – Down To Earth!

Benny Urban: All of us have been tired of all the unnecessary stress and small things that come about when you are filming a video part. In general filming a video part should be fun and exciting, not stressful and that is why we wanted to call this movie Down to Earth to remind everyone and ourselves that if you keep it simple you will enjoy snowboarding and life more. I think Marc came up with the name.

Knut: I know all of you have been friends for a long time, has being able to make a video together been like a dream come?

Marc: We have been filming together on Nitro trips before, but having our own project is definitely a dream come true!

Benny: It has been an amazing opportunity to have so much freedom to film with your good friends and at the same time work on a project you really believe in. This has definitely contributed to all of us getting a lot of sweet tricks and footage. I would say it was my best and most fun year ever.

Knut: What trips have you guys gone on this year?

Marc: We have gone on a lot of trips – Italy, Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Utah, Minnesota, and Tokyo just to name a few. We were in the US for about 5 weeks.

Dominik Wagner: Our first DTE trip was up to northern Finland to meet up with our boy Toni Kerkela in his hometown of Jyväskylä. Toni showed us around and helped us find so many amazing spots. After we left Finland we traveled all over Europe looking for new spots and then we finished up the year by going to the US for one month.

Knut: How was your trip to the US? Where did you guys go and what was your favorite part?

Marc: We went to Salt Lake City and Minneapolis. It was my first time to Minneapolis and I loved how many spots you can find and recognize from movies. There is nothing better than seeing a spot in real life.

Benny: We went to Salt Lake City first and met up with a bunch of Nitro guys which was super rad! We had the chance to ride with you (Knut) and go to all the sweet spots like Rail Gardens. After that we drove to Minnesota and found a million street spots and got to ride the famous Hyland (which was amazing). That trip was maybe one of the best trips I have ever been on – we had so much fun snowboarding everywhere and there was such a consistent good vibe throughout the crew.

Dominik: I was so stoked to finally be able to ride the famous Rail Gardens! We went to so many old and new spots in Salt Lake City and Minneapolis.

Knut: How did you like hanging out with Nitro photographer Bob Plumb?

Marc: Holy Shit!!! Bob is unreal – as you (Knut) would say “The Best”. Seriously, if I could choose a photographer to shoot with for the whole season it would be Bob Plumb. He is mellow, but still so productive and always has jokes to lighten the mood and make people laugh. The thing I like the most is the fact that Bob captures snowboarding how it is – documentation style, no bells or whistles – Raw Snowboarding.

Benny: Bob is the best! You can be in the shittiest mood for whatever reason, and he will make you laugh and be happy in a second. He is just the funniest guy ever!

Domink: Bob is on of the most amazing people I have ever met. He is just down for a good time and is always taking the pressure off by telling jokes or doing crazy things. Bob documents snowboarding the way it really is and that is what I love about his work – raw snowboarding.

Knut: If you could describe Bob in two words, what would it be?

Marc: The Best!

Benny: Artistic Comedian!

Dominik: F”#king Awesome!

Knut: There are a lot of snowboarding movies coming out every year, how will Down to Earth be different than all the other movies out there?

Marc: No big budgets or politics involved. This movie will represent snowboarding’s raw basic feeling - just watch it :)

Benny: We are making an authentic snowboard video that people can relate to and showcase what we think is fun with snowboarding. It should be inspiring for all the snowboard kids- we want to get people to go out and snowboard wherever they are.

Dominik: Our goal is not to be different, our goal is to show the people how much we love to snowboard and enjoy ourselves while we are exploring and snowboarding. We just want to do our own thing and I hope that people like it.

Knut: What is the goal with Down to Earth?

Marc: Having fun snowboarding with your buddies.

Benny: To make a movie that we are proud of and showcase our aspect of snowboarding, the vibe, the lifestyle, and everything that comes with finding new spots - the adventure of snowboarding.

Dominik: When we started our goal was to film with our friends and have as much fun as possible, now that the season is almost over I would say that we have achieved everything we wanted.

Knut: What was your favorite session while filming?

Marc: Snowboarding at the big park in Minneapolis with all the Nitro and L1 guys. It’s a park that has like 10 different features and we were about 25 people snowboarding all over this park – an unreal site and experience.

Benny: My first good powder day on the new Nitro Slash and riding the infamous Rail Gardens roof gap was super fun.

Dominik: Everyday we have been out there and tried to get something special has been amazing. The whole season was amazing and I can´t really point out one particular situation, because each day was so sick.

Knut: Who and what have been your inspirations for making Down To Earth?

Benny: Creating something new and different was probably the first thing. I see everyone who is being true to themselves and not afraid to go his own way as an inspiration.

Dominik: Nitro´s team movie HYPED! as a big influence for me. Hyped! really showed that it is not always about the biggest jump or how many spins you can do… we all started snowboarding because its FUN so why not showcase it that way.

Knut: What advice would you give kids out there who are thinking of making their own snowboard movie?

Marc: Just do what you think is fun, and with a good amount of motivation you will get pretty much anywhere you want. Stay motivated and have fun doing it!

Benny: Just be passionate about doing it and have fun. You can see if people are having fun in their movies and this is what makes a movie great. It takes a lot of effort to make a good movie, but I think it is definitely worth it.

Dominik: Just go out with a bunch of your friends, grab your camera and snowboard – have fun with it.

Knut: One last question, why do you like snowboarding so much?

Marc: Because next to music there is nothing I enjoy more.

Benny: It is the best thing in the world – it is way more than just a sport. There are no boundaries so you can be free and express yourself through your own style of riding.

Dominik: Because it is the BEST!