Retired cameraman brings ‘Ticket to Ride’ to USU
World-renowned athletes showcase their extreme talents all over the world in snowboarding, skiing, heli-skiing, freeskiing and racing in one film – Warren Miller’s “Ticket to Ride.”
The 64th annual film showcase will be held at 8 p.m. Nov. 14-15 in the Kent Concert Hall. Tickets are $18 in advance and $20 at the door and can be purchased at the Caine College of the Arts Box Office or Al’s Sporting Goods.
Aside from the movie, attractions include gifts from the company and local sponsors. Everyone attending the movie will receive a subscription to Ski Magazine and a free two-for-one ticket to Snowbird and Brighton ski resorts.
“You know, each year we find that the athletes find new ways to push their boundaries personally, which elevates their game and elevates our game,” said Max Burvy, managing director.
Burvy said the athletes featured in Iceland and Greenland, Julia Mancuso and Ted Ligety, and Seth Wescott in Valdez, Alaska, have a great chance at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
“The athletes themselves put it in front of us on a silver platter,” Burvy said. “It’s them that constantly raise the bar each year.”
One of the new themes displayed in the film is the preservation of snow and winter seasons. The Climate Reality Project sponsors Warren Miller, and the two created an alliance for the cause.
“We partnered with Climate Reality Project,” Burvy said. “It’s a great organization. We worked with them to create this alliance called I Am Pro Snow. We work with a bunch of athletes as ambassadors to talk about protecting, preserving our winters.”
The organization traveled to Greenland with the film crew and athlete ambassadors Ligety, Mark Abma, Michelle Parker and Doug Stoup to document climate change effects in the country.
Utah resident and retired Warren Miller cameraman Gary Nate said “Ticket to Ride” takes a different look at the world in this film and tries to produce fantastic movies without being intrusive to the environment.
Nate is responsible for bringing the Warren Miller film to USU every year. Aside from a winter sports movie, he describes the film as a travel log.
The new film features classic locations in Alaska, Montana and Colorado, but explores the exotic landscapes of Switzerland, Greenland, Norway, Iceland and Kazakhstan.
“One of the most interesting places is Kazakhstan within the old Soviet Union,” Nate said. “We went there a couple of times in the last few years. This time they do kind of a little spoof that Warren Miller suddenly became just an absolute giant and everywhere you went in Kazakhstan, there were pictures of Warren Miller and Warren Miller films. This was thought up by Chris Anthony, and Chris has been in more Warren Miller movies than any other individual person.”
Burvy said it was an exciting segment because they were able to film racing and freeskiing. Athletes in the Kazakhstan scene include Anthony, J.T. Holmes and Espen Fadnes.
“If I was going to go ski with friends, I’d say Iceland,” Burvy said. “There’s a new heli operations up there. It’s really easy to get there. There’s a direct flight from Denver. It’s really just an amazing place – big, tall ice around you. You go right from the mountaintop to the ocean. Iceland is really cool.”
A technique used by the company each year is to try and give everyone in the audience a little piece of something they’ll enjoy. The formula was developed by Warren Miller 64 years ago and continues to resonate in the most current films.
“Hopefully something is going to resonate with someone in the audience with each person,” Burvy said. “That’s our tradition, to have grandma and grandpa leave happy as well as the grandkids. We’re not kind of going after one segment of the population.”
Nate said the goal of the company has always been to give the audience a little bit of everything, but not enough to bore them.
“I think the tradition for us is to entertain, inspire and to make people laugh,” Burvy said. “A movie is subjective to people’s personal taste. We try to be a lot of things to a lot of people. Our audience is (aged) 7 to 70.”
According to Nate, the film should appeal to everyone, even if they’re not avid skiers or snowboarders.
“A lot of people say, ‘Why should I go to a ski movie, I don’t ski?’, and I go ‘Well I don’t kill people, but I go to murder mysteries,'” Nate said. “The point being is, it’s just a really good film that kicks off winter every year and there’s just something in it for everyone actually.”
Burvy agreed the goal of the film is to fire up the audience about winter and extreme sports.
“I think the big thing is that there’s nothing like going to the theater with family and friends to kickstart the season, to get excited about the upcoming season,” Burvy said. “That’s really what it’s all about. It’s seeing a show with an audience full of enthusiasts.”
