This Sunday, the most anticipated snowboarding film of all time, The Fourth Phase starring Travis Rice, will be screened for free, for one night only. Think of it as the cinematic equivalent of an aerial trick as the feature-length film jumps from the festival circuit to the land of paid VOD and downloads. No matter where you are in the world, it will air this Sunday, October 2, at 9:00 PM (21:00) in every time zone on Red Bull TV.
What is Red Bull TV? Well, it works like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime, but unlike those platforms (of which I subscribe to all three), you can download the Red Bull TV app for free on your Smart TV or mobile device. If sports isn’t your jam, you can also see live festival coverage of Austin City Limits (live streaming this weekend and next), Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Primavera — it’s a goldmine for music nerds like me, especially those averse to traveling, crowds and long lines at the Porta Potties. The Strumbellas are playing live from ACL as I write up this post.
While we’re on the subject of music, The Fourth Phase features a spellbinding original score by Kishi Bashi.
If you read my posts here on Popdose or elsewhere, you’ll see that sports aren’t typically in my hot topic wheelhouse (Hot Topic gothic romance clothes, totally different story). While I’ve been a fan of the Warren Miller ski films since childhood, and also love surf movies like Bruce Brown’s The Endless Summer, there’s something extra intoxicating about this genre now that it’s filmed in 4K and Ultra HD and I finally have a proper TV to experience it. I tune into see the endless money shots of majestic mountains, cloud formations and snow covered forests as much as I do the action shots of fearless elite athletes. I’m as much amazed by how the camera crews get the shots as I am the tricks they capture. And then there’s the music. In addition to Bashi’s score, the film also features music by Foals, Sigur Ros and M83.
As Vanity Fair put it in their preview, The Fourth Phase is a “Snowboarding film for people that don’t snowboard. A National Geographic special that visits corners of the world accessible only by helicopter and that just happens to have the most fearless snowboarders barreling down near-vertical slopes.” In the film, Rice and his team study weather patterns to map a 16,000-mile course to follow the Earth’s hydrological cycle around the north Pacific. Their journey takes them to Japan, Russia, Alaska and Wyoming. It’s a buddy flick. An eco flick. A sports flick. A music flick. If only a Pokemon would cameo, my toddler might like it too.
And on a side note, Kishi Bashi‘s new solo album, Sonderlust, just came out last week. Pick it up on iTunes or Amazon. Learn more here.
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