Best snowboarding movies of all time

A member of the Breck Epic Team, Eric Willett accounts his journeys as a professional athlete here. To read more from Eric, search his name in the top right, or click here. 

There have been too many good snowboard movies over the years to even count. I remember growing up — I think I was a Junior in high school — and a movie called “Afterlame” came out. It is one of those movies that showed you just exactly how fun snowboarding was. Of course, it had all the best tricks (and my favorite riders, including David Benedict, Travis Parker, Scott Arnold, and Bobby Meeks, to name a few.)

What makes”Afterlame” stand out to me the most, is the way they rode and had fun doing everything together – traveling and riding with each other. I think this movie really showed –and still does — what snowboarding was all about. The soundtrack was made up of 80’s music, including tracks from Weezer, The Faint, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, each of which quickly made it onto my playlist. I listened to it everyday when I went out riding. Still to this day, the “Afterlame” movie is my favorite snowboarding movie. The same company, Robot Food, that made the movie also had a couple others that are just as good as “Afterlame,” which were made years before. Those movies were titled “Afterbang” and “Lame.” Robot Food no longer makes movies, but man I wish they did!

A more recent movie that stands out to me would be Travis Rice and Brain Farm’s, “Art of Flight.” This particular movie has both showed and set the standard for where snowboarding is today. The movie itself is well rounded in that it show various back country riding and sessions in the park.

“Art of Flight” was also one of my favorite movies because it was one that I got to be apart of. One of the highlights of filming for me was seeing the behind the scenes part of making a movie. When you are a competitive snowboarder, you do not often get to see how much work goes into making a good snowboarding movie. For example, from the park shoot, the production crew had a non stop job while filming. Getting all their equipment up to the park, set up, and ready to go. Having the helicopter take laps following us through the park. All while not really knowing how long it will take to get the perfect shot, i.e. if we didn’t land tricks, or something went wrong during the shot. All around, it was a privilege to film with everyone and a great experience.

— Eric Willett