{"id":87208,"date":"2019-10-03T09:47:15","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T16:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=87208"},"modified":"2020-05-22T13:03:53","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T20:03:53","slug":"level-1-productions-makes-its-final-ski-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/level-1-productions-makes-its-final-ski-film","title":{"rendered":"Level 1 Productions Makes its Final Ski Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

With fall comes colder temperatures, fewer hours of daylight and ski and snowboard movie premieres, when packed theaters fill with anticipatory crowds that can\u2019t wait for the snow to start stacking up. But for one ski movie company, this fall\u2019s feature film will be its last. After 20 ski movies over a two-decade span, \u201cRomance<\/a>,\u201d which premiered in late September in Denver, will mark the final feature from <\/span>Level 1 Productions<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Josh Berman, founder and director of Level 1, describes the film as a 20-year relationship with skiing, but that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s breaking up with the sport. It\u2019s just on to new beginnings. \u201cI\u2019m excited for the opportunities we will be able to make for ourselves by opening up to different projects, by telling stories and working on films that wouldn\u2019t fit the mold we\u2019ve created for ourselves,\u201d said Berman, who started Level 1 in 1999 when VHS tapes were the norm, <\/span>Freeze <\/span><\/i>was the must-have ski magazine and twin-tip skis were debuting in terrain parks and on rails around the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Skiers

Level 1 has been making ski movies for 20 years. This year’s film will be its final feature ski movie. (Photo Credit: Chip Kalback)<\/p><\/div>\n

Berman had originally wanted to be in front of the lens, as a pro skier. \u201cI quickly came to the realization that I was not going to be able to keep up with the people who were doing it full-time,\u201d Berman said. It was a simple switch-180 off a 10-foot tabletop that changed everything. He fell and shattered his tibial plateau and tore his lateral and medial meniscus, an accident that temporarily took Berman out of skiing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeff Winterton, an influential skier and photographer who helped boost the newschool ski scene\u2014where young skiers did jumps and tricks in terrain parks and on rails\u2014on the East Coast in the late \u201990s, became Berman\u2019s mentor. He taught him how to use the <\/span>digital camera that Berman had borrowed from his dad, <\/span>and eventually, Level 1 was born. Long-standing Level 1 filmer Freedle Coty joined Berman in 2003 and has continued to lend his vision and creative style to the films since.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe first real commitment to the process was in 2003 when I made the film \u2018Forward,\u2019\u201d said Berman, who moved from the East Coast to Colorado for the project. \u201cThe other path I was going to take was either going to New York or Los Angeles to pursue a much more traditional filmmaking career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While other ski movie companies were putting out glitzy annual films with heli budgets and international travel, Level 1 made its way onto the scene, adding a grittier, indie flavor. Wide-eyed teenagers crowded local theaters to watch up-and-coming riders like Dan Marion and Steele Spence grind rails on urban staircases or hit hand-built, backyard jumps. It was unlike anything else being portrayed on the big screen at that time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have almost entirely been committed to the annual feature films the last 20 years,\u201d said Berman. \u201cIt has allowed us to put out what I like to think of as fresh content, but it\u2019s also familiar in the sense that our fans know what to expect with the filming, the vibe and the athletes.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tom

Tom Wallisch got his start filming with Level 1. (Photo Credit: Josh Bishop)<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the years, Level 1 has vaulted no-names to superstars. Take <\/span>Tom Wallisch<\/span><\/a>, who grew up in Pittsburgh, far from snow-covered mountains, and started shooting with Level 1 in 2007 when he won <\/span>SuperUnknown<\/span><\/a>, an annual competition Level 1 holds to bring visibility to lesser-known athletes by including them in a film segment. Wallisch went onto become one of the world\u2019s top slopestyle and urban skiers. \u201cI made some of the best friendships of my life,\u201d said Wallisch, who appears in this year\u2019s film, \u201cRomance.\u201d Per Wallisch, the time he spent \u201cworking with the filmers and like-minded skiers were the most fun years of my ski career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Berman won\u2019t say this is the end of Level 1. It\u2019s just the end of the yearly ski movies. So, what\u2019s next? \u201cThe end of this chapter is bittersweet. In a lot of ways I\u2019m going to miss the process and the routine,\u201d said Berman, who plans to work on different projects going forward, including the SuperUnknown competition, which has been going on for 16 years now and isn\u2019t going away. He also hopes to <\/span>tell stories focused on people and places beyond the ski world.<\/span> \u201cI look forward to doing a lot of filmmaking that has nothing to do with skiing. I want to capture things I haven\u2019t seen before,\u201d said Berman.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can catch \u201cRomance\u201d on <\/span>digital download<\/span><\/a> this month or on <\/span>tour<\/span><\/a> throughout the U.S. this fall.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With fall comes colder temperatures, fewer hours of daylight and ski and snowboard movie premieres, when packed theaters fill with anticipatory crowds that can\u2019t wait for the snow to start stacking up. But for one ski movie company, this fall\u2019s feature film will be its last. After 20 ski movies over a two-decade span, \u201cRomance,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":87217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[727,364],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-87208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-snowsports","tag-latest-posts","tag-snowsports"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/level-1-productions-makes-its-final-ski-film","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Level 1 Productions Makes its Final Ski Film","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/level-1-productions-makes-its-final-ski-film","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/level-1-productions-makes-its-final-ski-film"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/10\/USE_Level1_Romance_Brady-Perron_Noah-Albaladejo.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/10\/USE_Level1_Romance_Brady-Perron_Noah-Albaladejo.jpg?fit=4592%2C3448"},"articleSection":"Snowsports","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["latest posts","snowsports"],"dateCreated":"2019-10-03T16:47:15Z","datePublished":"2019-10-03T16:47:15Z","dateModified":"2020-05-22T20:03:53Z"},"rendered":"