Massive frontside 360s. Tomahawks. Bloody snow. Freestyle raps. One-footers in jeans. Circle of Madness has it all. And now, iF3's 'Film Of The Year' is available to watch for free on YouTube.
Check it out below. Keep reading for a breakdown of the film.
The North Face’s latest snowboard and ski film features French snowboarder Victor de Le Rue and Italian skier Markus Eder in Alaska, and because it’s Alaska, it features some of the gnarliest backcountry riding released in a film so far this season.
“It’s crazy, crazy deep,” says de Le Rue in the film. “It’s Alaska, baby! The turns are going to be insane.”
Madness beat out films from Matchstick Productions and Level 1 to take home 'Film of the Year honors' at the iF3 movie awards this year. de Le Rue also took home best snowboarding backcountry segment for his part. On the skiing side of things, Eder took home standout male skier of the year for his lines in the film, and director Christoph Thoresen took home the honor of best backcountry segment.
Funny enough, de Le Rue won standout male snowboarder of the year as well, though not for his lines in Madness, but rather, his appearance in the Jérôme Tanon film Of A Lifetime.
Photo: Circle of Madness
The film has something for almost everyone (sorry, no handrails in this one). It’s a rare showing of a simple skier-snowboarder partnership, when the number of athletes in one discipline does not outnumber the other. Early in the film, de Le Rue and Eder trade off cheese wedge runs off of Slingshot Jump. De Le Rue starts his run off with an effortless-looking 720, despite admitting afterward that on the in-run he was so scared to hit the jump.
But the pace – and the anxiety - truly picks itself up during the segment that features the Dr. Seuss line.
“I’ve been dreaming of this moment for a long time,” de Le Rue says. “I’ve seen once a picture of Jeremy Jones on it. Then my brother rode it. Then Manuel Diez rode it. I’m finally standing on top of it. Let’s see how it goes.”
After he drops in, immediately senses sluff, and straight-airs it out of harm’s way hopping from pillow to pillow before he eventually ends up riding down the spine. It’s a moment that is intended to make the viewer’s heart beat a little faster, especially because in the intro of the film, we see de Le Rue get swept up in some sluff.
Photo: Circle of Madness
After the initial line, it’s time to show off. de Le Rue hits us with a frontside 3, a rodeo 3, a backside-720, and a hand drag over a rock. We get some more pillows, than he hits us with a one-footer.
Of course, Alaska serves as a beautiful backdrop, one that is hard to beat. Throw in some purple ambiance as the sun begins to set, and it’s not hard to see why the film took home so many accolades. At forty minutes long, it’s no short film, by any means, but even the athletes wish it didn’t end so soon.
“My goal was to do it so well that I didn’t feel this inner drive have to come back,” Eder says at the end of the film. “And the other day, flying out I was like ‘f*ck I think I have to come back.’”
“You should get more satisfied about what you’ve done, instead of always trying to hope for more,” de Le Rue said.
Maybe. Or maybe that desire for more will lead to a sequel.
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