Pretty Faces World Premiere Recap

When I was in middle school, I remember reading an interview with a professional skier who was asked what was his “best” day of skiing. He answered, ““Honestly? Any day I’m with my friends. Doesn’t matter whether I’m sliding down ice or floating in 20 inches of pow.”

Those words have stuck with me through the years because likewise for me, skiing has always been about community. After an internship with SheJumps, a non profit that encourages female participation in the outdoors, I realized that within the outdoor community, there exists a fast growing, all-female contingency that, when found, can make those good days even greater. The times that stand out are those days spent with two or three other like-minded girls in the mountains, pushing each other during each run and laughing all the while.

Lynsey Dyer’s Pretty Faces premiere event last Tuesday could not have emphasized that idea more.

The women of Pretty Faces get stoked!  

Ski movie premieres always contain a certain level of eagerness; the promise of the winter is enough to make anyone psyched. This, however, paled in comparison to the energy and atmosphere at the Pretty Faces premiere in Boulder, Colorado on Tuesday night. A good portion of my night was spent dodging mobs of little girls dressed in unicorn horns. But the crowd wasn’t just full of pink tutus and costumes. Both girls and guys packed into the theater, and everyone was just as pumped as the person standing next to them.

The film opens with a creative montage of getting ready for a big ski day: climbing out of bed, making coffee, eating breakfast, stuff we all do while getting stoked for a big day on the mountain. What we all don’t do is send a huge double backflip in the Revelstoke backcountry, like Tatum Monod in the films's first segment. Sure, there’s plenty of footage of the girls going off on pillow lines in British Columbia and the big mountain steeps of Alaska. instead of choosing the ski porn route, which Dyer very well could have done, Pretty Faces follows a simple plot line: the story of women whose passion lies in the mountains.

Photobooth Antics!

This passion applies to not only professional skiers, but also to young girls skiing with their dads on the local ski hill. Pretty Faces covers all this and more; from Paige Fitzgerald sending it in the big in the Chic Choc mountain range of Northern Quebec, Suz Graham BASE jumping in a wingsuit, and some girls ripping snowmobiles. Dyer also brings the movie down to earth by showcasing the lady dirtbagger, whether that means waiting tables, washing windows, or any other summer job to make skiing a priority in the winter.

Little unicorn sighting at the Pretty Faces premiere. 

The movie also highlights another simple, yet sometimes overlooked idea: girls in the mountains are different than guys, and that’s not a bad thing. I recently talked to a good friend who summed this idea up pretty well: “Before I started skiing with girls, I hadn't quite realized that it was okay to take pee breaks. I also hadn't realized that the fact that you were going to freeze your ass off during that pee break was something to laugh about, not to be uncomfortable with.”

Pretty Faces celebrates these relationships made with women who are willing to accept, share, and stoke these inherent differences. It’s is a testament to this idea in so many more ways than one. The athletes who stood on stage before the premiere were standing up there because someone—mother, father, friend, female, male—told them they could do it, whatever ‘it’ may be. And perhaps that’s why the movie was so authentically wonderful. Its origins are humble, starting with a Kickstarter project and idea. The women of the film told stories of challenge and self-doubt; stories that showcased the vulnerable side of skiing that isn’t often seen in the action-sports industry. I left Boulder not only excited, but also inspired.

Balloons fall as the movie ends. 

At one point in the film, Lynsey talks about how her dad always told her to “dance down the mountain.” It’s this idea that resonated beyond the bounds of the Boulder Theater on Tuesday. We can’t all be professionals, and not everyone will achieve Wendy Fisher status. But as the film attests, every female who has spent time in the mountains has their own unique dance, a unique story to tell. And for each of those stories and each of those dances there is another girl who can relate.

As the film comes to a close, Rachael Burks references the female ski community’s obsession with mountain-top “selfies.” But that moment isn’t about looking your best. Shit, it doesn’t even matter if you’re even looking at the camera. There’s just something about that split-second, whether it’s on the top of a dream line in Alaska or a first-ever double black that calls for a memory forever sealed in a picture.

Perhaps Angel Collinson says it best: “There’s more to us than just pretty faces.”