Scott Gaffney on Releasing His 1997 Film 'Breathe' for Free Online

Tahoe-based, internationally-known ski filmmaker Scott Gaffney just released a film online. To clarify, the film has been out for almost three decades, but was unavailable to stream online.

Now, 'breathe' is free to watch on YouTube (see embedded video below), thanks to digitizing efforts. Skiers such as Jonny Moseley, Rob DesLauriers, Gordy Pfeiffer, and Dr. Robb Gaffney make cameos on 16mm film.

Scott Gaffney- 'Breathe' Q&A

Tell us more about Breathe.

"It was for the North Face. There were two films made out of one. It was supposed to be one film called The Promised Land. The sponsor wanted all backcountry and they didn't wanna see the Jonny Moseley stuff in the park.

They didn't want to see the little comedic segment with my brother , t hey didn't want to see the kayaking stuff, but I just didn't want to lose that.

All of those things had a lot of merit to them and the movie more fun and relatable. We ended up dividing into two, and I think it ended up working out, although some people don't realize there was some overlap between the two movies- The Promised Land and Breathe. In the end, I got the movie I wanted and the sponsor got the movie they wanted.

I don't think the Promised Land is out there anywhere. I don't have that digitized, and considering it took me 27 years to get around to getting this one online, I don't expect the Promised Land to get online all too quickly."

What was the digitization process for Breathe like?

"I actually didn't deal with the digit digitization process. Renowned kayakers Scott Lindgren and Rush Sturges were making a movie, and they wanted footage of Chuck Kern, a kayaker, who perished the year that I shot him.

There's a kayak segment in that movie. Those guys grabbed the copy from me and did all the digitizing themselves. They saved me the trouble."

How did it feel to look back and see such a stacked cast in this movie?

"It was kind of the beginning for the guys I was working with, the DesLauriers Brothers. They were established stars in skiing and I was just stoked to be working with them.

For most of the athletes, they were people who were just getting discovered. Chris Davenport was in there, Dean Cummings, my brother [Robb Gaffney]... Jonny [Moseley] was a World Cup mogul skier at the time, but no one really knew who he was until the next year.

Gordy Pfeiffer was actually kind of a legend. I don't know how many POWDER covers he had. He was a massive hucker, but this was a chance for him to ski outside of his home in Utah and send it up in Alaska."

How have the reactions been after putting 'Breathe' out digitally?

"I'm, since I'm driving east right now, I haven't really had a chance to look over social media a lot. It was kind of an underground film. I don't expect a lot of people to clue in.

It's a certain type of person who likes watching really old school ski films and it's not necessarily for everyone."

Did you put it out for that niche crowd?

"I've just been sitting on it for a long time. These guys digitized it like a year ago or maybe two years ago. I haven't done anything with it and I was like, 'it's time to get it out now.'

I'm going to go back to the Ottawa River where I shot some of that kayaking and I was like, 'you know, all this Ottawa River footage is in the movie and I'm heading back there.' Why don't I just throw it back online or throw it up online?"

What are the merits of shooting on 16 millimeter?

"The film had a beautiful aesthetic quality to it. It is just a softer image. There are some people who are actually turning back to film just because they like the look of it. You can't quite match that, even with the state of the art RED cameras and all that.

But from a filmmaking perspective, it was interesting because you basically would send in the film to be developed and you wouldn't see it maybe for a month and a half. Sometimes even longer than that.

It's not like you could sit there and replay your shot and everyone checks out their shot like they do now. Skiers couldn't see what their style looked like, if they got the grab or whatever it might be. So it's changed the game."

From a filmers' perspective, film was pretty sweet in the fact that at the end of the day, you re-canned your film, you took out what you had shot, and you put in a new spool. Then you were done for the day.

Now, you've got all this work to do at the end of the night with RED cameras and whatever cameras they might be, you're downloading all the shots and spending hours at the computer. I t used to be five minutes of changing the film out and setting up for the next day."

What does putting out Breathe mean to you personally?

"Ever since I put it online, I haven't watched the whole thing. I've watched the little parts here and there and I know some parts better than others, but it's the type of movie that I could watch and be like, 'oh, I forgot about that.' For myself, that's kind of cool.

This is 27 years later, so seeing this stuff just refreshes my mind and takes me back to another place."

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