The Crash Reel

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Director: Lucy Walker
Year: 2013
Running Time: 108 minutes

Synopsis
This eye-popping film seamlessly combines twenty years of stunning action footage with new specially-shot verité footage and interviews as it follows U.S. champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce and exposes the irresistible but potentially fatal appeal of extreme sports. An escalating rivalry between Kevin and his nemesis Shaun White in the run-up to the 2010 Olympics leaves Shaun on top of the Olympic podium and Kevin in a coma following a training accident in Park City, Utah. Kevin’s tight-knit Vermont family flies to his side and helps him rebuild his life as a brain injury survivor. But when he insists he wants to return to the sport he still loves, his family intervenes with his eloquent brother David speaking for all of them when he says, “I just don’t want you to die.” Kevin’s doctors caution him that even a small blow to the head could be enough to kill him. Will Kevin defy them and insist on pursuing his passion? With his now impaired skills, what other options does he have? How much risk is too much?

Awards
2013 SXSW Film Festival — Audience Award
2013 Dallas International Film Festival  — Documentary Audience Award
2013 Seattle International Film Festival — Special Jury Award
2013 Melbourne International Film Festival — Audience Award
2014 Cinema Eye Honors — Best Nonfiction Film for Television Award
2014 Cinema Eye Honors — “The Unforgettables” Award for documentary subjects Kevin and David Pearce
2013 Whistler Film Festival — Best Mountain Culture Film Award
2013 Whistler Film Festival — EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Documentary from Alliance of Women Film Journalists
2014 International Ski History Association Film Award
2013 Ashland Independent Film Festival — Rogue Award
2013 Hot Docs Film Festival — Netflix Audience Award Top 10
2013 Berkshire Film Festival — Audience Award
2013 Port Townsend Film Festival — Best Documentary, Grand Jury Award
2013 Kendal Mountain Festival — Grand Prize
2013 New Hampshire Film Festival — Granny Award for Best Documentary
2013 MountainFilm in Telluride — “Making Movies that Matter” Award
2013 AwareGuide — Winner, Top 10 Transformational Film Viewers Choice of 2013
2013 AwareGuide — Runner-up, Top Health Doc Award
2013 Gotham Awards — Nominated, Best Documentary
2013 Cinema Eye Honors — Nominated, Audience Award
2014 DGA Awards — Nominated, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
2014 One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival — Audience Award

The Crash Reel
The Crash Reel
The Crash Reel