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Director: Lucy Walker
Writer(s): Pedro Kos, Lucy Walker
Cast: Kevin Pearce, Shaun White, and Mason Aguirre
This eye-popping, yet intimate, story of U.S. champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce uses years of vérité footage to expose the potentially high price of participating in extreme- action sports. Training to compete against longtime rival Shaun White at the 2010 Winter Olympics, Kevin suffered massive head trauma from a 2009 accident in Park City, Utah. His tight-knit Vermont family flew to his side, and together they began an intensive process of trying to rehabilitate him and help him rebuild his permanently damaged life. Kevin’s determination and the tireless support of family and friends kept him focused on recovery. But when he insisted he wanted to return to the sport he loved, his family objected. As an elite athlete, Kevin was a professional risk taker, but as a brain-injury survivor, his skills were now impaired, and even a small blow to the head could kill him.
“Much more than a sports film, Lucy Walker’s Oscar-shortlisted The Crash Reel is a thrilling, inspiring, yet cautionary tale about extreme sports that never trades on sentiment.” – Linda Barnard, Toronto Star
“Director Lucy Walker’s chronicle of how Pearce, his family and his friends grapple with their altered reality results in one of the year’s best documentaries.” – Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News