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Shane McConkey‘s legacy continues to reach new heights.
The Canadian-born skier helped revolutionize and legitimize extreme sports in the 1990s, bringing fame and great attention to a growing group of mountain athletes that sought to redefine — and push the boundaries of — sanity on the slopes. A pioneer of the BASE jumping-skiing hybrid, McConkey’s resume was filled with medals, honors and trophies by 2009, when he died — at just 39 years of age — while attempting an especially difficult stunt on a mountain in Italy.
His life and impact on sports is examined in a new film from Red Bull Media House, which continues its push into extreme filmmaking. Using footage captured by his own production crew — one of the great thrills of these ski excursions was capturing video while in mid-flight off a mountain — and interviews with friends and family, the film looks at how McConkey changed winter sports for good.
The film debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
I thought would be really funny were actually depressing, sad and awkward,” director Tom Berninger says, “and the stuff I wasn’t really happy with became the great stuff.””]
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