PANTY TREES AND GREEN MOUNTAIN SPLITSRIGHTSIDE FEATURED ON ESPN SNOWBOARDING BLOG

ESPN did a quick interview with Rightside owner, Joe Gaetani to talk about winning the Telus 72-Hour Filmmaker Showdown and splitboarding in the Green Mountain state. You can check out the interview and video down below or on ESPN's website.

Panty trees and Green Mountain splits

Rightside Productions taps the panty tree and wins the Telus Festival.

May 3, 2010, 1:39 PM

By: Jesse Huffman

It's always a victory of sorts when a fellow Vermonter wins something. All the more so if it's an international film contest like the Telus 72-Hour Filmmaker Showdown, where as the title implies, the filmers have 72 hours to film and edit a short in and around Whistler, British Columbia. And while Whistler has an abundance of world-class snowboarding terrain and world-class boarders, the winning entry, Panty Bloom, by Joe Gaetani and friends took a decidedly quotidian tact, following the fate of a particular piece of lingerie and all the lives it touched...or, um, touched it.

Gaetani is no novice in the world of 'boarding. Back in Vermont, he sticks to a winter diet of splitboarding, exploring the woods, cliffs, and ravines of the Green Mountain state backcountry. ESPN.com grabbed an exclusive edit of Gaetani's split exploits and asked the up-an-coming filmmaker a few questions about how the narrative of a C-cup took the cake in Whistler.

 

ESPN.com: What was the inspiration for taking such a narrative tact in the contest? Joe Gaetani: I worked on Panty Bloom with Alex Adrian and Chris Zimmerman. The story of an underwear's journey from girl to tree was Alex's brainchild. I shot and edited most of the video [and] Alex partook in this as well. Chris was our stuntman and Carrie Hall was our stuntwoman. We came to the film festival with this story in mind, but with a very loose storyboard. Our goal was to tell the story of the journey by using sound effects. However, halfway through the 72 hours we decided that a narration would be a much better tool to guide the story. So basically it was more or less a last-minute decision that paid off in the end!

Was it fun having that constraint? I really enjoy the time constraints of these film festivals. I tend to thrive in fast-paced, high-stress situations and as long as I'm prepared, I can let my instincts take over while I put my head down and push through all the work. When you hand in a final product after being focused on it non-stop for three days, it is such a surreal feeling; its gotta be similar to dropping your child off for their first day of school. Sitting around and waiting to find out whether or not we made the finals caused a lot of anxiety. All we really hoped for was to make the finals, winning was a HUGE bonus and such an honor. Who would've thought we would win in our first year participating in the film festival?

Why did you choose to focus on the panty tree instead of some radical Whistler shred action? Even though the 72-Hour Filmmaker Showdown is part of the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival and it takes place in Whistler, most of the videos are cinematic pieces and not based on boarding. Creating a cinematic video is all about grabbing hold of the viewers' emotions -- tough to do with typical shred action. Besides, we're not a bunch of pro shreds. I don't think anybody wants to watch us flounder around on a snowboard.

Any plans for next year's comp? We really hope to make it out for next year's festival. We had so much fun and now that we have a feel for the 72 hour time limit, I think we can step it up for next year. Plus, being able to see the world premiere of a Robjn Taylor video is worth the trip alone!

Lastly, what is splitboarding in VT all about? Exploration and powder, it's as simple as that! We get some pretty decent snow in northern VT, but the resorts get tracked in the blink of an eye. Riding at the resort, I've always looked across the way and thought 'Dang, I bet there is some good riding over there.' After years of gazing, my friend Nick and I decided it was time to stop looking and time to start exploring.

Now we spend our summers studying topo maps, searching Google Earth and hiking through the woods plotting our attack for the winter. Once the snow finally comes, we get after it. It's definitely not glamorous. A lot of times we strike out -- trees are too tight or the terrain isn't steep enough -- but when we do find something good, it's usually untouched and perfect.

We have had many days in the mountains without seeing or hearing another person all day -- all the tracks are ours. This kind of solitude is hard to come by these days. There is also something very rewarding about earning your turns. It definitely makes you feel accomplished at the end of the day. We've barely cracked the surface of splitboarding in VT and hopefully we'll be finding new lines for years to come.