For the first time, films and photos will be posted for online voting period
By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Nachos in Retrograde? SinglesLineOnly.com? You kind of had to be there.
The 2024 Big Sky Shootout gathered roughly 400 community members to celebrate local ski community and mountain culture on Saturday, April 6. The ninth annual Shootout displayed 16 short films and dozens of photographs, all shot during March 2024 by local artists in Big Sky.
The Shootout was established 10 years ago and it’s rapidly becoming a favorite local tradition. In September 2023, it was also adapted into a summer event.
“This is the coolest, most local, culture event in town,” said Chris Kamman, well-known videographer and a Shootout volunteer. Kamman emceed the larger of two theaters at The Waypoint during the overflowing 6 p.m. showing.
Kamman also produced two films: “Nachos in Retrograde” ranked second by audience vote and could be described as creative; “Auras” was creative in a different way, showcasing the cinema skill he’s known for with his Skylab Media House, and earning him “Best Cinematography” and a tie for top film by audience voters.
When “Auras” finished, Kamman praised the Shootout for its openness to just about any idea.
“No one would ever pay me to make that video,” Kamman told the crowd. “Ever.”
In its early years, the Shootout generally featured more hardcore ski-focused edits, perhaps with a touch of humor, according to Erik Morrison, who has been involved since the beginning and now runs the show. But in recent years, the Shootout began to blossom.
“I think Chris [Kamman] started to level up the game and raise the bar on what was possible. He was the one really taking the time to think of more robust pieces, and more storylines. Really raising the production quality and level… certainly inspired a lot of other people,” Morrison said.
As the event has leveled up, it has empowered more creators and drawn bigger crowds—Morrison said both showings pushed up against The Waypoint’s capacity of roughly 200 people.
The 2024 show began with “March of Powgress,” a sequence of point-of-view ski clips, including the Big Couloir and Dobe’s. The film won “Best Line.”
“Top of the Bell Curve” was a mean film—average, that is—as local actors celebrated their pursuit of becoming “medium” and “mid.” Audience laughter rewarded the young ladies’ sense of humor.
Local wildlife including elk, moose, foxes and birds took the big screen in “Stay Wild.”
The fictitious Headwaters Triple-Black Adventure Zipline was announced to maximize the use of bomb trams on the Headwaters, in “Coming April 1st.”
Some of Big Sky’s younger rippers earned screen time in “Miss Liberty 2.0” and “A Touch of Powder Flu.”
Other films edged closer to an R-rating. “Dear Winter” and “SinglesLineOnly.com” were laced with adult, ski-town humor, but the audience was evidently not bothered, voting them first and third place, respectively. The former won “Best Powder” and tied with “Auras” for “Peoples Choice” favorite, perhaps aided by Rob “Switchie” Leipheimer’s enthusiastic and breathless shouting of “yeah” when winter finally arrived in March. The latter won “Best Social Commentary.”
“Double Duch Day” showed dirtbags skiing the tram to Terry Stebbins’ Big Sky parody soundtrack, “I’ll ride the tram and ski with you.” It was awarded “Best Lifestyle.”
In the finale, “Plunger Park Party,” a towrope was apparently installed in the park by popular request, enabling a montage of tricks under a bluebird sky and awards for “Best Trick” and a tie for second place by audience vote.
For photographers, Sean Mackinson earned first place by audience vote, Jonathan Stone took second, and Delaney Coveno earned third place.
This year, for the first time, viewers will be able to vote online for another round of “Peoples Choice” awards. Creators are encouraged to blast their own work out to their networks as soon as voting goes live, Morrison said.
Movies with a mission
Morrison is behind an initiative called Second Season, which has formally hosted the Shootout in recent years. Second Season aims to help new residents and visitors understand and respect Big Sky’s culture of mountain living, so they can assimilate while making a positive impact.
The value of Shootout is to unify community members, old and new, in an immersive shared experience, Morrison explained. “Instead of trying to tell people how we live, and what is it we value, and what is at the essence of Big Sky, and what is our community all about. This is really a way to experience it, be part of it, see it, feel it.”
Morrison is driven to continually cultivate community with events like the Shootout.
“Big Sky is never going to be what it once was, but we do have control in some way, of helping foster it and make it into something special moving forward,” Morrison said. He looks forward to beefing up the program as events like the Shootout gain momentum.
“We want to start doing way more things similar to the Shootout. More inclusive, in-person, interactive experience with new residents, visitors, and locals and experts in their field,” Morrison said.
At Saturday’s event, Morrison was overwhelmed by comments and feedback from attendees. They expressed gratitude for organizers using the popular tradition to build community.
“It kind of chokes me up as we talk about it,” Morrison said. “I was really honored.”
He added that you can’t force these moments when a community comes together, sharing so much and being divided by so little.
“You can kind of stack of deck, if you will—just continue to cultivate the environment where it may not happen every time, but it’s more likely,” Morrison said.
He thanked his volunteers for helping with the popular annual event that can feel like a marathon.
One such volunteer, Andrew Robin, runs Peak Creative Design and designs advertisements and marketing for the event. Robin has been submitting films to the Shootout since the beginning.
“He has been instrumental in helping us build it into what it is today,” Morrison said.
Other regular volunteers Micah Robin and Bella Butler were out of town and unable to help during the event, but Ethan Schumacher, another Big Sky native and impressive videographer, stepped in to edit the final product, Morrison said.
Morrison dedicates the 2024 Big Sky Shootout to Jen Clayton, who runs Second Season’s website and digital tools. Clayton was occupied with a family emergency, but Morrison emphasized the importance of Clayton’s support.
He thanked The Waypoint for being a “fantastic” host and generally offering “robust” programming that fits with Second Season’s cultural mission. He also gave some love to the theater’s previous owners, Scott and Sally Fisher, who first conceived the Big Sky Shootout in 2014.
Morrison thanked local sponsors for making the event possible and better than ever.
After dishing out cash prizes and covering event production and website costs, he’s excited that Second Season is finally in a position to move beyond foundational work. Morrison looks forward to investing in education efforts—engaging PSAs in the theme of “Mountain Living 101”—and launching more local-focused events like the Shootout.
