Last night's premier screening of Absinthe Films' Neverland marked the earliest snowboard video premier Toronto has seen since Forum came to town in the summer of ‘03 with Video Gangs. But thanks to the depressing weather we've had over the past few months (warning: do not get any Toronto residents started on this topic), local snowboarders are already psyched for winter, and the Absinthe gang's arrival simply accelerated everyone's enthusiasm.

Back at the Bloor Cinema for the second year in a row, Absinthe director Justin Hostynek arrived with filmer Shane Charlebois, plus riders Annie Boulanger, Marie-France Roy, and hot new jack Bode Merrill. With a giant Volcom-branded bus acting as a beacon out front, a large crowd was gathered on the sidewalk well before the theatre opened at 9 PM. After a 30-minute autograph session, Justin stepped to the stage with the riders to introduce Neverland and stoke the crowd with an obligatory product toss.

Tough times at the autograph session for Bode (right), when you're with two lovely ladies (MFR and Annie, left) and no one has seen your banger part yet.

Neverland opens to The Who's "Baba O'Reilly", offering a nod to skater Jamie Thomas' part in the classic Zero video, Misled Youth. With an opening section of Kevin Pierce, Eero Ettela and Nicholas Mueller shredding the shit out of a tree-infested backcountry zone, the momentum carries right through to a shared part with Yes teammates DCP, Romain DeMarchi and JP Solberg - all of whom make a confident statement that life does indeed exist after parting ways with Burton. Travis Rice has a predictably epic part, with a ridiculous intro of him riding a white horse (or should I say "steed'?) to the song "Head Honcho" (which you should recognize from the Andy Samberg movie Hot Rod).

Annie Boulanger and MFR share a part, all of which was shot in the backcountry. Annie's experience shines with some legitimately large cliff drops, while MFR seems to have no trouble transferring her park skills to pow booters; the two riders offer a genuine look into the next level for women in the backcountry. Capita's Dan Brisse hits some big-ass rails and stomps a particularly intense roof gap transfer (as seen in one of the early teasers), while Gigi Ruff takes us on a European train odyssey, stopping off at an alpine village literally buried in snow where he rides rooftops like they're park boxes. The truly banger ender, however, comes from the previously unknown Bode Merill. To earn the last part among so many talented riders is a statement unto itself, but the scale and diversity of his tricks warrants it. As cliché as it may sound, Bode is poised to be the next big thing.

After the credits rolled (which contained a surprising amount of A-grade footage), I sat down with Justin Hostynek to get an inside perspective on Neverland.

Justin and Matt, back of the theatre...alone.

So it seems like snow wasn't a problem this year...
No, snow was not a problem! We were really lucky. We played it totally different than we had in the past; usually we'd have a ton of people in Alaska for one to two months. This year we just had one group up there, and we were able to send our other crews to other places and they got it just as good - if not better - as the Alaska guys.

It looks like you put together one of your best videos in a year when budgets must've been a big challenge. Did it take some creativity?
It took heading in new directions instead of relying on the usual formula. We felt like we made the right choice by having people spread out. And Alaska wasn't that good this year anyway, so it worked out really well.

What's a premiere without a product toss?

It must've been nice to have Travis back in the video. And his intro was all-time.
Yes... He's insane. He's got his own brand of riding. And the intro was all his idea. The song idea came from Shane, our filmer. We thought, "How can we follow up his two-year project that set a new standard for snowboard videos?" So we figured humour was the way to go. It was so perfect; he thought it was hilarious and he came up with the horse scenario himself. The boots, the shirt, the hat... it all came from him.

As a Canadian I was stoked to see Annie and MFR with a solid two-part banger in there.
It was sick. For me, it was some of the most interesting women's riding I've ever seen. The whole formula for this movie was just to show the best shit; really cut down on the filler and show the bangers. We had so much good footage it could've been a yawner, so that's why the credits have such good shots! And putting the three Yes guys together forced us to cut some good footage to make it fit, but we felt like it was just the right way to do it.

Justin got creative for the board giveaway, looking for the most environmentally saavy movie-goer.

All of the Yes guys impressed me; I'd almost forgotten how good Romain is, especially.
Yeah, well he blew his knee two years ago, right at the end of the season, so last year he had a very mediocre year. But this year he ramped right up again, and I think he'll have an amazing season next year again. And this is the season we were waiting for with JP. We stuck with him for a lot of years, but he had three shoulder injuries, three years in a row. So it was a tough time for him, but he stuck with it and we could see his talent and unique style from the beginning, so this year was the pay-off for him and us.

And Bode Merrill... Wow. He got a lot of cheers here tonight for an unknown rider, considering he's not really known here yet.
He's not known anywhere but Salt Lake City yet! But that will change. He came out of nowhere; I'd never met him or even heard of him until six months ago. His sponsor asked us if we'd give him a chance, and we saw his drive and his skill and said, "Buddy, you're on." It's hammer after hammer from him; it's crazy. And he's the king of the F.T. [ed. - landing on the first try]. So many of the shots he got were tricks he landed on his first attempt, and that's very unusual. So I just see very big things in his future.

Like Mystery Science Theatre 3000, with less heckling and more rad.

Neverland teaser:

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Related:
Absinthe Hits Canada (Ready premiere)
The Award Winning Mare-France Roy