Voleurz opened a roster of top end professional and amateur films. Meathead turned out a hilarious film with good East Coast skiing, but the crowd really started hooting and hollering when Jeff Thomas and the crew from Theory 3 dropped in to overhead pillow lines in the Pacific North West in “Journal.” Charlie Ager proved he is perhaps one of the most under-rated skiers out there, slaying the big mountain, stomping pillow lines switch and spinning of any kicker he can find. Rossland local, Dane Tudor throws down and leaves you eager to see just how good this kid will become. A good soundtrack and technically well-produced film under the banner of Poor Boyz, “Journal” was defintiely a crowd favorite.

The headliner for the evening though was Tanner Hall’s, “The Massive.” With so much hype behind such a production, it does make it tough to live up to it, but Tanner and co throw down, well… Massive. The opening credit roll is jaw dropping- psychedelic and cinematic- and Tanner shows off his full array of skills from the pipe, to the big mountains.

Despite flawless skiing from Tanner, perhaps the showstopper is Dana Flahr’s Alaska helmet cam segment. Dana lays down fast and fluid turns on some of the most aesthetic flutes, spines and pillow lines out there. Utterly indescribable, the footage dropped my jaw to the sticky carpet in the Imperial Theatre.

Originally scored by Tanner’s good friend Cali P, the reggae vibes sustain the film and the freestyling incorporates Tanner himself, Alaska, the title of the film and other characters throughout. What could be really lame, surprisingly isn’t.

Callum Petit skis impressively and it was good to see Sammy Carlson sking pow at Retallack and shredding it.

The show didn’t finish at the end of the film however, as “The Massive” threw a party at the Just for Laughs bar. Due to a USA border altercation, Cali P wasn’t able to perform as originally billed, but the show went on with high energy into the long Montreal night.

Saturday features Poor Boyz’s “Reasons” and “Hunting Yeti” amongst others before the judges decide the festival winners at the Newschoolers party. So far everyone is scraping themselves off the bed each morning, if they make it to bed, and powering on, but Saturday night’s party might just finish a few off. I’m sure it will.