X-DANCE HONORS 2008
01.29.08 //
X-DANCE FESTIVAL 2008 HONORS THE BEST IN ACTION SPORTS
Travis Pastrana’s “199 Lives” Takes Best Film
“Bra Boys” Wins Best Documentary
Tony Hawk honored with Best Athlete Award
Salt Lake City, UT--The 8th annual X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival was held January 19-23th in Salt Lake City, Utah. Action sports industry leaders, athletes, celebrities, enthusiasts, and filmmakers gathered to celebrate the culture, enjoying the world’s top action sports films, Q&A’s with filmmakers and featured athletes, and an open-forum panel. Forty-four films screened over five days at the Off Broadway Theater on Main Street in downtown Salt Lake. Many evenings were SRO where audiences enjoyed an incredible slate of engaging, emotional, and action-packed films. The competition was fierce and the quality of nominees was impressive.
The five-day festival’s events culminated at the now-legendary Awards Ceremony/Closing Night Party at The Depot, which was hosted by Olympic commentator and Fuel TV on-air personality, Pat Parnell.
Award presenters included extreme skiers Scot Schmidt, street skater Mako Urabe, gold medalist Jonny Moseley, and Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, and ; adventure photographer and mountaineer Jimmy Chin (who skied Mt. Everest); the top female telemark skier Kasha Rigby; pro Australian surfer Koby Abberton; former X-Dance winner and director Rich Van Every; and legendary skater Tony Hawk.
Tony Hawk also received Best Athlete of the Year for his humanitarian efforts. His foundation (www.tonyhawkfoundation.org) has awarded over $2 million to help build free public skate parks in low income areas across the country. X-Dance also recognized the recent loss of extreme skier Billy Poole in a brief tribute to the greatly loved local Utah athlete. 
Best Film went to Studio 411’s 199 Lives, an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at maverick athlete Travis Pastrana. Directed by Greg Godfrey and produced by Jeremy Rawle, the engaging action-packed film drew a SRO audience who gave Pastrana a standing ovation when he took the stage for Q&A after the screening. “It was an amazing experience to work on this film with Travis; he’s one in a million. Also, we are honored that 199 Lives won this award because we know the competition was outstanding,” says producer Jeremy Rawle. From leaping from an airplane without a parachute to launching his motorcycle into the Grand Canyon, Pastrana clearly does have 199 Lives.
Over fifteen members of the Aussie surf tribe, including champion surfer Koby Abberton, descended upon Salt Lake to support their film, Bra Boys, directed by Sunny Abberton and narrated by Russell Crowe.
The Berkela Films project received the well deserved award of Best Documentary. World-class surfing and archival footage, along with an against-all-odds story, Bra Boys depicts the history of surfers from inner-Sydney suburb Maroubra Beach and the extreme hardship they endure from childhood. With every seat filled and people sitting in the aisles, the Bra Boys poignant movie took the audience on an emotional ride --hearty laughter, intense silences, and tear-streaked faces filled the room. After the film, producers Jason Bergh and Sal Masekela joined the Bra Boys on stage for a riveting Q&A. An off the charts after party hosted by X Games’ Sal Masekela, honored the powerfully intense documentary film. Trouble Andrew’s group shook the house at the Broadway Bistro.
“X Dance has single handedly become the premiere venue for action sports filmmakers,” said Sal Masekela. “They’ve allowed action sports filmmakers to step outside their box into a larger arena. Bra Boys has become an underground hit all over the world and we couldn’t be more pleased to have it participate in such a unique and respected festival. Bra Boys not only speaks to core culture, but also to the masses, just as X-Dance has seeded itself as a film festival – a very important and successful formula. X-Dance is the best thing to happen to filmmaking in action sports.”
Jason Bergh adds, “"X-Dance means to us what the Academy Awards means to Hollywood. Great films, great people and an opportunity to meet and socialize with the best of the best. Winning Best Documentary has been a humbling and inspiring moment in our careers."
Johnny DeCesare of Poor Boyz Windsurfing won Best Director for his powerful eloquent film The Windsurfing Movie. Shot over three years, this film tells the history of the sport and has put windsurfing back on the map. The film also won Best Soundtrack for its upbeat music track featuring the Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters and more…
Studio 411 grabbed another honor as its film Against the Grain: The Tara Dakides Documentary won Best Biography. Director Josh Landan’s poetic tale tells the intensely personal story of the world’s best female snowboarder, Tara Dakides and her struggles over the years. Dakides, whose charmed life took a turn leading to a dark phase, shared her triumphant story for the first time via this heartfelt film. "X- Dance is the Academy Awards of action sports filmmaking so to receive an award for Best Biography for "Against The Grain" was a great honor and I feel lucky to be in the company of so many great filmmakers,"says director Josh Landan.
Journey to the Center, an epic base jumping film shot in China, won the Best Adventure Film, a new category at X-Dance in 2008. Finnish producer Iiro Seppanen and the film’s star Jeb Corliss were on hand to receive the nod.
Best Editing went to The Man Who Souled the World, an evocative film on the rise and fall of skate board godfather, Steve Rocco. The extraordinary wakeboarding film Transgression took Best Cinematography and Best Original Score went to New Emissions of Light and Sound.
Britton Caillouette won The Video Action Sports (VAS) Emerging Director award for his soulful and moving film Sliding Liberia where four surfers explore the war torn country and introduce the sport to some local characters.
Jan Schuster and Darren Rayner of Voleurz clothing won Best Short for their film "Fishbowl." Schuster took the low road and drove all the way to Salt Lake City from Whistler for the festival and awards ceremony. He reports, “Being my first time at X-Dance there was a lot of hype surrounding the event and it definitely lived up to it. Every day my Dad and I would get started with a couple Red Bulls and sit down to watch action-sports videos to our hearts delight. With so many different movie genres, it was great to see some videos that I would not normally watch. On top of that, it was good to see the filmmakers and hear their thoughts and inside secrets about their movie, as well as be able to see who these people are that put it all together… If you're ever considering coming down to X-Dance, do it! I drove 25 hours this year and I'm definitely doing it again next year.”
Check out some of the photos on NossaTV's blog post:
Green Award Recipient Scott Seydel
In 2007, the X-Dance Action Sports Festival went GREEN, expressing its commitment to the environmental movement. X-Dance’s goal is to help build greater awareness in the action sports community and the world at large about the importance of environmental stewardship.
The X-Dance Green Motto is: "Save Our Playgrounds."
In 2008, the award was sponsored by the Enclave at Sun Canyon, the first LEED certified and Utah green building initiative townhome and home site in Park City, Utah. Steve Urry of Synergy Development, who’s behind the environmentally conscious projected, also donated 65 acres in Sun Canyon as a conservation easement to keep open space for hiking, mountain biking and the existing wildlife.
The Enclave at Sun Canyon and X-Dance gave the Ambassador of Green Award to humanitarian Scott Seydel, a true champion of the environment. Seydel is dedicated to turning waste streams into sources of fuel and reducing our carbon footprint. Scott also sits as board chair of Global Green in Santa Monica with fellow board member Leo DiCaprio. Brad Pitt recently teamed with Scott and the Global Green organization to build affordable green homes in New Orleans Katrina ravaged 9th Ward.
The LA DJ trio, Villains, rounded out the night, followed by an energetic performance by legendary hip hop artists, Souls of Mischief.
For a detailed list of all nominees and winners click here.
X-DANCE would like to thank their sponsors:
Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau, The Enclave at Sun Peak, Coke Zero, The Utah Sports Commission, Winter X Games, Skullcandy, Mirror Films, ADD Marketing, Skins, The Law Offices of Cliff Lo, Talentcase, SnoDaisy Snowboards, and Rome Snowboards.