After Riding with Giants and Dog Town and Z-Boys, Sony Pictures Classics returns to the extreme sports docu genre of film picking up the rights to the doc that slid into the Tribeca film fest back in April. Variety reports that Mark Obenhaus' docu on extreme skiiing was picked up and will play for audiences come holiday time. Produced by High Ground Prods. in association with the Documentary Group, a nonfiction shingle run by Peter Jennings' widow, Kayce Jennings, and award-winning news producers Yellin and Richard Robbins.
Steep is a feature documentary about bold adventure, exquisite athleticism and the pursuit of a perfect moment on skis. It is the story of big mountain skiing, a sport that barely existed 35 years ago.
It started in the 1970s in the mountains above Chamonix, France, where skiers began to attempt ski descents so extreme that they appeared almost suicidal. Men like Anselme Baud and Patrick Vallencant were inspired by the challenge of skiing where no one thought to ski before. Now, two generations later, some of the world’s greatest skiers pursue a sport where the prize is not winning, but simply experiencing the exhilaration of skiing and exploring big, wild, remote mountains.
