Freeride Filmfestival 2025 | After the Prime Tour is before the Cinema Edition

A brief obituary for the Prime Tour in Innsbruck

This year's FFF kicked off its tour season two weeks ago. Marked in bold in the diary for 16 years, the film festival kicked off in Innsbruck once again. Over the course of two evenings, the Metropol cinema was transformed into a place of pilgrimage for freeride fans. Alongside the spectacular films, the raffles by partners such as Mammut and the safety workshops by Risk n`Fun, the exchange between the scene is a major attraction and exciting to watch. Twice in a row, over 500 people with the same passion flocked to the largest movie theater in the building. The meeting of filmmakers, clubs, athletes, freeride enthusiasts and us from PowderGuide makes the FFF the turning point of the season for me. You can tell from the atmosphere, the conversations and the style of dress that the bikes, surfboards and hiking boots are slowly giving way to skis, snowboards and boots. On the one hand, the films and discussions create anticipation for the slowly approaching winter and, on the other, inspiration for new ideas, goals and wishes for the coming season.

Entrance to the Metropol Cinema at the FFF.

Sophia Aigner

Innsbruck, Austria

Birth of the FFF Awards

There were two new features at the tour stop in Innsbruck this year: On the one hand, the FFF Awards celebrated their debut. On the other hand, PowderGuide also kicked off its rookie season and had a stand on site for the first time, bringing us even closer to the freeride community.

Awards were presented in the five categories "Film of the Year", "Best Director", "Best Cinematography", "Most Creative Film" and "Film with the Biggest Impact". Five categories, five outstanding productions.

Most Creative Film: Inefficient Joy
Best Impact Film: One Step Ahead
Best Cinematography: Between Days
Best Director: Lines
Film of the Year: Into Altai

The festival is opening an exciting chapter with the new FFF Awards. The jury has selected these five films to receive a special place in the tour program, even though these films, with the exception of Into Altai and Between, are not going on tour. However, the audience can still look forward to extraordinary works that all push the boundaries in their own way.

This year's FFF films open up a panorama of stories that is as diverse as it is powerful. Evanescent, for example, transforms the melting glacier into a poetic stage of transition and makes the climate crisis tangible in images.

In Dear Superhero, the connection between motherhood and top-class sport becomes a human narrative that shows how life worlds touch and complement each other.

Between Days in turn captures the Japanese winter as a meditative state of emergency. A black and white storm of powder, philosophy and connection.

With Fathom, a quiet antithesis emerges: a silent introspection in which silence gives more expression than a thousand words. The short film, which was not supposed to be made, tells of an event in which life takes over and reflects on a life-defining experience characterized by fear and forgiveness.

Into Altai opens the door to a spiritual adventure in the Mongolian vastness, carried by legends, landscape and the search for inner movement.

While all these stories find their own tones, Flipbook sets a modern, energetic accent that rethinks skiing and looks to the future.

Together, they create a program that shows the whole spectrum of freeride filmmaking: sensual, documentary, impulsive and inviting to look at the mountains with fresh eyes. In the coming weeks and months, the FFF will be on the road with its Cinema Edition in over 100 cinemas in 12 countries. You can still get tickets everywhere!

The largest movie theater is slowly filling up.

Sophia Aigner

Innsbruck, Austria

PowderGuide had its own booth for the first time

The Innsbruck premiere was also a special moment for PowderGuide: it was the first time that PG had ever had its own booth at a film festival.

Almost the entire crew from Innsbruck made their way to the Metropol Cinema together. We had information about the weather, mountain safety, adventure, travel and freeride culture in our luggage. There was a lively exchange with the community, many new faces and some new companions who we were able to inform about our mission: Generating knowledge, processing knowledge, sharing knowledge and exchanging ideas. This year's anniversary child, the Nordkette snow betting game with cool prizes from our partner Penguin, was also there. It provided for numerous conversations and a good atmosphere.

Conclusion: A successful kick-off that calls for a repeat soon.

More presence, more exchange, more PowderGuide

The kick-off at the FFF marks the beginning of a new chapter for PowderGuide:
The physical presence will be a fixed element of our work in future. PG wants to make content more visible, impart knowledge directly and get in even closer contact with the community. Film festivals, festivals, trade fairs and other events will be more closely linked to our Reports, Magazine articles and weather maps.