Ski film season is here again and two of Colorado’s production houses begin their film tours in October.

Crested Butte-based Matchstick Productions‘ offering drops first.

‘The Land of Giants’ is a mountain range based film for 2023, Matchstick Productions’ 31st film, co-founder Murray Wais said.

“The film’s theme is an ode to how the skiers paint lines on the slopes of unique mountain ranges around the world from the likes of the Lyngen Alps in Norway, Sawtooth’s in Idaho and the Japanese Alps in Japan,” Wais said.

Matchstick Productions took a new approach with athletes they filmed with this year. Wais and crew added six European skiers to the film.

The evolution of making ski films has changed a lot over the last 30 years for his company, Wais said. From cameras becoming cheaper, smaller and more capable to traveling less to destinations to film to utilizing freelancer crews at sites, filming flexibility has become the norm.

“We used to send a three man crews on the road for two weeks at a time, then they’d come home,” Wais said. “Big changes started for us about 2015, then COVID and (it) accelerated all of it.”

In March 2023, I wrote about the MSP Lounge:

“It’s kind of a celebration of all things skiing and biking and hanging out, and is a cool space,” Wais said. A pool table, TVs and ‘cool’ furniture grace the lounge Wais also said, creating a place to hang out and chill on the mountain.

So, in July 2023, I toured the Matchstick Lounge with Wais in Mount Crested Butte, and he pointed out some of the things skiers and riders can see: Posters, photos, relics including the infamous ‘Case’ from ‘Ski Movie I’, and other MSP-related items on the walls.

Matchstick Productions hasn’t slowed down either.

“The tour has been growing every year, with it bouncing back big in 2022,” Wais said. “Opening up (in) new markets, like 10 ski areas held a screening in their parking lots.”

Colorado dates for “The Land of Giants”:

• Crested Butte Center for the Arts – Oct. 7, showtime: 7 p.m.
• Boulder, Colorado, Boulder Theater – Oct. 9, showtime: 7:30 p.m.
• Denver, Colorado, Oriental Theater – Oct. 10, showtime: 7:30 p.m.
• Golden, Colorado, American Mountaineering Center – Oct. 11, showtimes: 7 & 9:30 p.m.
• Aspen, Colorado, Wheeler Opera House – Oct. 12, showtime: 7:30 p.m.
• Breckenridge, Colorado Riverwalk Center – Oct. 13, showtime: 7:30 p.m.

Warren Miller Entertainment

Boulder-based Warren Miller Entertainment — a brand of Outside Magazine — is teeing up its 74th annual film this fall. 

ALL TIME is the first film in a two-year film release leading up to the company’s 75th anniversary in 2024. Warren Miller, the legendary ski film maker’s first movie, ‘Deep and Light‘, was released in 1950.

Warren Miller Entertainment said the film will feature footage from Aspen and Sun Valley, two mountain towns considered the birth places of ski towns, as well as skiers known as ‘hotdoggers’ and other icons from skiing’s past.

“Warren Miller will be celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024, and it only felt right to celebrate this milestone not just in one film but in two,” Jessica McGee with Outside and WME said. “Starting with this year’s film, we’ll take a look back, then in 2024 we’ll look ahead.”

Warren Miller films have documented ski culture, athletes, and the birth of ski towns throughout the last seven decades. This year’s film “ALL TIME” (2023) will take viewers on a journey through the decades full of iconic moments, outlandish locations, and who’s who of athletes.

The film will be narrated by Jonny Moseley and will include both new and archival footage featuring some of the most recognizable names, such as Glen Plake, Jonny Moseley, and Scot Schmidt, and to those more recent ones, such as Amie Engerbretson, JT Holmes, Marcus Caston, Brian Rice and Connery Lundin, plus the east coast social media phenom, known as Maine’s finest athlete, Donny Pelletier.

Colorado dates for “ALL TIME”:

• Lakewood, Colorado, Lakewood Cultural Center Oct. 25
• Parker, Colorado, PACE Center Oct. 26
• Loveland, Colorado, Rialto Theater Oct. 27
• Colorado Springs, Colorado Pikes Peak Center Oct. 28
• Fort Collings, Colorado, The Lincoln Center Nov. 8
• Boulder, Colorado, Boulder Theater Nov. 9, 10 and 11
• Keystone, Colorado, Warren Station Nov. 11
• Salida, Colorado, Salida Steamplant Event Center Nov. 11
• Denver, Colorado, Paramount Theatre Nov. 16, 17 and 18
• Lone Tree, Colorado, Lone Tree Arts Center Nov. 20, 21 and 22
• Crested Butte, Colorado, Majestic Theatre Nov. 24, Dec. 29 & 30
• Grand Junction, Colorado, Historic Avalon Theatre, Nov. 29
• Aspen, Colorado, Wheeler Opera House, Nov. 30
• Beaver Creek, Colorado, Vilar Performing Arts Center, Nov. 30

Teton Gravity Research

Jackson, Wyoming’s Teton Gravity Research’s film for 2023 titled ‘Legend Has It‘, is starting its tour around the Front Range and metro Denver in late September. 

Colorado dates for “Legend Has It”: 

• Colorado Springs, Colorado, Stargazers Theatre, Sept. 21
• Dillion, Colorado, Dillon Amphitheater, Sept. 22
• Denver, Colorado, Soiled Dove, Sept. 26
• Denver, Colorado, Oriental Theater, Sept. 27, 28 & 29
• Denver, Colorado, Ogden Theater, Oct. 3
• Boulder, Colorado, Boulder Theater, Oct. 4 & 5
• Fort Collins, Colorado, Aggie Theatre, Oct. 6
• Gunnison, Colorado, Gunnison County Public Library, Oct. 6
• Vail, Colorado, Vail Mountain School Theater, Oct. 12
• Aspen, Colorado, Wheeler Opera House, Oct. 13
• Steamboat, Colorado, Art Depot, Oct. 13
• Basalt, Colorado, The Art Campus at Willits, Oct. 14
• Cedaredge, Colorado, Grand Mesa Arts and Event Center, Dec. 15

Chris Anthony is bringing his film ‘Mission Mt. Mangart’ to the Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield, Colorado for a one night showing at 8 p.m. on Sept. 8. The event is being put on by the Rocky Mountain Ski Patrol chapter of the National Ski Patrol.

Part of a three-day convention at the Omni Interlocken Resort, Anthony is showing select scenes from the film to attendees. Money raised from ticket purchases goes to the Chris Anthony Youth Initiative Project.