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WANT TO SEE HOW NOTHBOUND WAS MADE?

Make sure to check out the full documentary about the project.

Se how it was done and all the challenges the crew had to face building

the first mini ramp made out of frozen sand and water!

CLICK HERE FOR FULL LIST OF FESTIVALS, REWIEVS & ARTICLES ABOUT THE FILM

Northbound is "a film that transports the viewer into a meditative mindset. The playful poetry of the skaters in the film provides us with an artful and timeless experience. My fellow jurors and I applaud the filmmaker Jørn Nyseth Ranum and the cinematographer Łukasz Zamaro for making such a beautiful film

TRIBECA SPECIAL JURY MENTION

SPECIAL JURY MENTION IN TRIBECA!

OFFICIAL SELECTION CLERMONT-FERRAND

AMANDA

NOMINATION

OFFICIAL SELECTION

HOT DOCS

MOUNTAINFILM NEXT!

Clermont-Ferrand international shortfilm festival is the world's leading film festival dedicated to short films

The Norwegian film award "Amanda" is given on occasion of the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund. It is the main national film award in Norway.

"The 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, (...) includes 72 short films, (...) After receiving 3,553 submissions"

Hot Docs - Canadian International Documentary Festival. North America's largest documentary festival!

Telluride Mountainfilm is awarded: "Top 25 coolest filmfestivals in the world" by Movie maker magazine!

NORTHBOUND

Ice, driftwood, foamy waves and … skateboards? In this poetic short film, four skaters head north to the cold Norwegian coast, applying their urban skills to a wild canvas of beach flotsam, frozen sand and pastel skies. The result is a beautiful mashup — biting winds and short days, ollies and one epic miniramp.

See the full length documentary about the project here: vimeo.com/ondemand/onthinice

See the directors earlier project here: vimeo.com/ondemand/northofthesun

THE IDEA

I got the idea four years before it was set in motion. I was out surfing in northern Norway on one of the coldest days of the year — when I came back up on shore, I noticed that the cold weather had turned the sand rock solid and the idea was born. After some years, the idea had been in the back of my head, and it grew bigger and bigger each time I thought about it. After a while, the idea had evolved from just skating directly on the sand to also trying to build a full scale miniramp.

In the beginning people were really skeptical about the whole idea. Everyone thought it was a cool idea, but they were unsure if it was going to work in real life. But when I showed a small test I had done the winter before, everyone got really stoked. I think skateboarders are used to going out of their comfort zone and they’re always eager to try new things. That´s why they are so good at skateboarding, and why they love to be a part of these kinds of projects.

CHALLENGES AND REWARDS

The cold and sand made it very challenging for the skaters. Tricks they could normally stomp with their eyes closed took them 10-20 tries with the different conditions. The griptape was covered with ice and sand, the trucks got really stiff from the cold so the skaters basically didn’t have any board feel. But then again, it made it so much cooler to stick a basic trick. I think this project was a very special experience for all of us.

The amazing thing about traveling north is that the light is so different there. In summer the sun never sets and in winter the sun never rises. The last days we were shooting, we could see the sun for a few minutes before it went under the horizon again. It felt so good to have the warm sunlight hit your face after so many weeks without it. I think we had light from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.. So we did not have too many hours every day to film. We had 10 days of filming. Some days we got a lot of skating, but some days were stormy and too warm.

THE RAMP

Four people built the ramp and we spent two days working on it before the whole crew and skaters arrived. To build it, we made a framework out of wood and filled that with sand and freshwater. The weather was changing constantly, which made filming the miniramp scene a struggle. The original plan was to make the ramp with perfectly straight lines, but the temperature never got low enough to freeze it solid, so the edges collapsed a bit. In retrospect, it looked so much cooler than a perfect build would have, because it actually looks like sand and not like a concrete bloc. We were lucky and managed to film on the miniramp the last day. A few days later, a big storm came in and washed the whole ramp away so we were really lucky! - And we got the perfect ending.

It’s a surprisingly perfect surface to skate — proving once again how skateboarders change our interpretation of everyday surroundings.

- Jørn Nyseth Ranum, Director of Northbound