as sundancers and slamdancers and chefdancers were getting rad on the streets of park city last night, i was x-dancing my way to SLC. x-dance, an action sports film fest, shows some of the best surf, snow, skate and ski movies of the year. all these 'dances are really to recognize the indie scene and all the talent that produced the goods - namely filmmakers. a 2-year project, josh landan documented the past and present life of tara dakides, who in my eyes is one of the top three legendary women snowboarders to push the limits of female riding (barrett christy and victoria jealouse rounding it out). and it's a great fucking film.
it's pretty to obvious to understand why josh chose tara. her story is so easy to tell - just put her in front of a camera and you've just got an audience. props to josh for making this film, but tara dakides earns the credit for her starring role in 'against the grain.' it's not so much a snowboard flick as it is a biography on tara and using snowboarding as a means of self-discovery and progression. call me a hippie, but i think that's beautiful.
her teenage years weren't so happy. her parents' divorce took a toll on her, and all the ditching class, smoking, drinking and a suicide attempt prompted her mom to pop her into a mental hospital for a few months and forced tara to deal with her problems on her own. at 16, after this emotional roller coaster, she bought a bus ticket to mammoth and moved out on her own, which launched her into a life journey and a career in snowboarding.
i could get all wrapped up in retelling her story, but it's one you have to watch for yourself. it's tara's story, anyways. and, hell, she doesn't just tell it - she's *lives* it and she has created an amazing journey because of it.
after watching 'against the grain,' i had the best snowboard dreams of my life. dreams of the most styled out backside shifties. the cleanest front boards. the deepest pow days. it was the most refreshing sleep i've had in a long time. i slowly drank my coffee this morning while snow was falling on the cars driving into town and wondered where they were headed. 15 minutes late for work, i hopped in my car, picked out some tunes and took a different route to work. after all, getting there should be half the fun of the journey.
studio 411 is distributing 'against the grain' and will be released in the fall of '08. check it out. find your own happy place with rainbows and unicorns.
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