Featured Image: Gavin Rudy | Skier: Ethan Swadburg
On Movie Monday, FREESKIER brings you free movies from the wide world of skiing. With a mix of old and new, this is where you can find your weekly dose of freeski history, adrenaline and cinema mastery all in one.
Strictly produced some of the finest films skiing has seen in the last few years. This eclectic crew, made up of a wide range of talents, took to the streets, backcountry and resort during their adventures. You’d be hard pressed to find another group in skiing that had such a wide range of skiers. In 2021, the team decided to split their labor between three projects. “August Light (Have A Nice Day)” is the work of Strictly members Ethan Swadburg and Gavin Rudy, and it’s one of our all-time favorites from this group.
While the film features many notable names, such as Jonah Williams and Taylor Lundquist, Swadburg and Rudy were the primary forces behind its creation. Both spend a bit of time in front and behind the camera, making the project feel like an incredibly fun collage of different viewpoints and styles. Perhaps that lack of consistency is exactly what makes this movie so enjoyable. We’re used to seeing long-form projects that follow one formula throughout. But much like skiing, “August Light” is made up of so many interesting styles that blend a barrage of emotions, from nostalgia to excitement, into one journey. It’s almost impossible not to love it.
Complete with a few original tunes, (shoutout to DJ Crotch Chop), “August Light” is an instant classic. Originality is hard to come by in any area of life, and there’s no shortage of it here. But enough yapping; hit the lights and slap that play button! Hopefully, we’ll be writing about the next project from this duo in the near future as winter approaches.
