Slideways is a four-part series in which Wolle Nyvelt, Austrian snowboard pro from the Zillertal, wants to explore the "soul" of his sport. The series is broadcast on Fridays on Servus.tv and is available to watch online afterwards. The German-American production was produced in 2011 by the German company Blankpaper-Studio, which set new standards in terms of editing, visual language and narrative style in snowboard films with its snowboard films "91 words for snow" in 2005 and "in short". The high expectations raised by the name Blankpaper are largely fulfilled, at least in the first episode entitled "The Evolution of Snowboarding", which was broadcast for the first time on February 24. With appealing images, two interwoven storylines alternate between the development of snowboarding from its beginnings to today's differentiated popular sport and the personal story of the main protagonist Nyvelt. The episode sticks roughly to the known facts and figures, even if the omission of Shermann Poppen's Snurfer means that an important part of the development seems to have fallen victim to the time budget. What is remarkable, however, is the mention of the Turkish lazboard development, which once again illustrates how people arrive at similar ideas and insights regardless of cultural factors or historical models.
Rapid development of snowboarding
The images from the early days of the sport demonstrate two things: on the one hand, they illustrate the rapid development of the sport over the last forty years from a small outsider sport to a differentiated mass movement. Secondly, the sometimes awkward film sequences show the authenticity and individuality of the snowboarding community, which is still invoked by the marketing departments of companies today, but has in fact largely been lost. While the gradual development of the sport in the film serves to locate and illustrate the different influences from the surf and snowboard scene, Nyvelt's personal story serves as a backdrop for the motivational situation that led to the creation of the series. Based on the ever-increasing differentiation and professionalization of the sport, which resulted in a steadily rising sporting level and thus increased training work, Nyvelt sought balance in the origins of snowboarding, gliding as freely as possible in untouched snow. The search for the "soul" of snowboarding, as the series is subtitled, therefore means not only the cultural and sport-historical background of the sport for Nyvelt, but in particular the search for new, creative boardshapes. In the following episodes, Nyvelt visits shapers and tinkerers in different parts of the world to talk to them about the shape and ultimately about the "soul" of snowboarding as embodied in the respective shape.
Second part airs on March 2, 2012 at 11:30 p.m.
In the second part, which airs on Friday, March 2, 2012 late at 11:30 p.m. on Servus.tv, Nyvelt visits Californian surfboard shapers to get inspiration for new board shapes. The 30-second trailer, which can be found online, actually shows some rather unusual shapes and whets the appetite for more. Highly recommended.
The first part can be found here
Next episodes
2nd Surf the Snow Friday, 02.03.2012 - 23:30
3. Finding Friends Friday, 09.03.2012 - 23:30
4. Episode 4 Friday, 16.03.2012 - 23:30
And after the broadcast on the Internet at servustv.com