As Autumn kicks in and the temperatures plummet across the Northern Hemisphere, there is a growing surge in the number of film festivals and weekend events dedicated to ski movies and snowboarding movies. A typical example would be the line up of one of the snow film festivals which rolls over the weekend of November 19 and 20, in a Cinema complex in Lower Manhattan, about as far away from the slopes as you can get. These events have a very clear commercial purpose; to add “stoke” to the pre season hunger of snow deprived skiers and whip up the feeding (aka buying and booking) frenzy so beloved of this marketer’s dream of an industry.

Taking a look at the line up for this particular weekend of 2010, gives a pretty wide ranging view of the skiing world and its sub cultures today. Not only are the current crop of major and minor ski movies showcased, but on show too are ski resort reviews; whether overt or implicit. No self respecting ski resort wants to miss out on their slice of this winter’s customer pie, by not raising their heads and being seen by the hordes of excited, snow hungry audiences of the ski movies on display. And so, many are featured, from locations around the globe. However, beneath the visibly commercial surface, lies a tremendous swell of creativity

Looking at the weekend’s playlist for a randomly chosen festival of snowsports films, gives a clear picture of how the skier or boarder can suck in an adrenaline shot of their choice, while allowing numerous opportunities for cross fertilization of ideas between the various camps. I’ve attempted to pick out a few of the titles and give a flavour of the variety offered by the first seven titles on this 1 playlist.

Like A Lion: A documentary feature film about Tanner Hall who some consider the supremely controversial and most competitive skier of the noughties. The film does try to pull on your heart strings a bit with his story of overcoming adversity and tragedy; eventually finding his self confidence and tasting triumph. You are able to follow the high-risk, ankle snapping life of this ESPN X-Games Gold medalist seven times over.

F*ck It: Snowboarders are a strange bunch and this film is about those who refuse to give in to common sense and in the face of adverse snow and “uncertain” death, their catch all solution for everything is.. F’ It. A very fit bunch and yet another gnarly sub culture within the sport.

Stance: Stance tries to highlight (or possibly exploit), the growing wave of hardcore woman snowboarders, who are reaching levels formerly denied by acceptance of stereotypes.

At Equilibrium: It’s good to see the cousins from eastern Europe standing up and producing their own snowboard documentaries. Following on the heels of the Polish and Romanian flavours of the last couple of years we see the passion of groups raising the profile of snowboarding in Bulgaria. I bet that wasn’t the first place you thought about for snowboarding holidays and yet this movie demonstrates how a passion can create growth in the most unpromising locations, if the culture is right.

Hello World: This is a movie that tries to deliver some original cinema and showcase the top levels of technical freestyle snowboarding. Yet another little niche within the snowboarding culture.

The Way I See It: Much hyped, promoted and trailered, the latest BIG extravaganza is a project out of all proportion to the other ski movies this year and it’s quite refreshing in a way to see it so low down the running list of the NYC festival. However that shouldn’t detract from an amazing example of what is achievable with the latest technology in cinematography, which, used creatively, gives some fresh perspective on this sport,

Swift Silent Deep: New movements in any culture need an original band of “nutters” who can step outside the mainstream and are immune to the disapproval and condescension of the masses. Swift Silent Deep attempts to tell the tale of the Teton’s most infamous secret ski sub culture, the Jackson Hole Air Force, revealing their seminal effect on the evolution of extreme skiing. It’s a fine example of a group of outsiders and misfits, eventually steering the course of a significant proportion of those individuals who would consider themselves part of the mainstream of western culture.

And, there’s more! Titles at this particular festival are pretty representative of the fare on offer around North America at present and to a lesser extent in the UK. Women in skiing, adventure boarders, back country telemarketers, big mountain and remote committing adventure skiing are all represented by this seasons offerings with titles like: Powder and Rails; Eye Trip; Transitions; Revolver, In Color; Witness the Sickness;Light the Wick; The Storming; Work It Out; Nowhere; Todcast the Movie; Hooked; Say My Name; Right Brain Left Brain; The Saturday Night Ride and a classic throwback, “The Blizzard of Aaaaghs”. Taken together these ski movies represent a very wide spectrum of the thinking underlying the games skiers play. The richness and variety of the snowboarding movies alongside the skiing films shows how quickly the snow board phenomenon has matured into an equal partner. May the two cultures continue to inspire each other.