Image Credit: Teton Gravity Research/Anthill Productions
June 17, 2015 - 9:00 PM
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Ever wondered what it’s like to do a 70-foot front flip on a tricked out mountain bike? Now you can get an idea without risking reconstructive surgery or a lengthy hospital stay.
An extreme mountain biking movie, unReal, is premiering in Kamloops and Kelowna next week.
UnReal is a movie that does for mountain biking what Steep and Deep did for skiing and That’s It, That’s All did for snowboarding, taking the viewer through a series of classic stomach-twisting rides against a number of gorgeous backdrops.
“It was shot in Wyoming and many different locations in B.C. I’m not sure which mountain and glacier they’re using. And of course, Whistler is a big part of it,” Jonathan Christie, the promoter sponsoring the Kelowna screening of the film, says.
UnReal is a co-production between Teton Gravity Research out of Wyoming and Anthill Productions out of Vancouver. Christie says the former is best known for its heli-skiing and snowboarding movies, while Anthill Productions has done smaller mountain bike movies but nothing as big as unReal.
“The collaboration between the two companies brings some great synergy and they have created something to be epic,” Christie, who runs High Life Productions, adds.
Epic is a good word for how you would describe the big air stunt by Vernon rider Tom van Steenbergen, just one on a roster of big name team riders who strut their stuff.
“He does a 70-foot front flip. It’s not official but it may be the biggest ever done,” Christie says.
Kamloops rider Graham Agassiz is also featured in the production, which includes scenes shot in the Big Bar area of the Fraser River.
For his part, Christie is promising 'an equally epic guest experience' at Kelowna’s Paramount Theatre.
“We’re going to have tons of vendors, all the bike shops will have their own booths, so there will be some great things to see and some great swag for prizes,” he says.
UnReal’s major sponsors are Trek, Shimano and Sony.
Tickets for the Kelowna screening of unReal are $15 or $17 at the door. It begins at 6:30 p.m., June 25, at Kelowna’s Paramount Theatre on Bernard Avenue.
In Kamloops, the screening serves as a fund-raiser for the Phoenix Centre’s Ashes to Dust Mountain Bike Camp. Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for students with kids eight and under free. The screening begins 6:30 p.m. on June 25 at the Thompson Rivers University Clock Tower Theatre.
To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015