Probably the best action sports movie of the year, THE SEARCH FOR FREEDOM is the story of a cultural revolution fueled by the human desire to live in the moment and do what makes you feel the most alive. They discover how an electrifying new world came about through pure energy and imagination and the infinite possibilities of self-expression available to anyone willing to drop in. This documentary is a visceral, visual experience told through the eyes some of the brightest pioneers, legends, visionaries and champions of surfing, snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding, mountain biking and more.
This revolution has been televised, but the film explores the human stories behind this movement that has spilled into primetime. Ski film Godfather Warren Miller explains that, “The basic instinct of a human being is his search for freedom.” The film explores how living in the moment and doing what makes you feel most alive can be key to that freedom. On the surface, The Search for Freedom might appear to be about sports, or chasing thrills, but it is about so much more. It’s about feeling that pull of nature and wanting to go deeper into that element, that ocean.
Many claim that the freedom experienced when you are riding a moving wave, becoming part of that wave for an instant, is impossible to shake. It’s a state of grace. And it’s the same whether you’re sliding on snow, skateboarding on concrete, or mountain biking through a rainforest.
Veteran surf publisher Steve Pezman taps into the source: “The wave is forming in front of you, the wave is over your head, your wake is disappearing, your footprints are washed from the beach. There’s no material production from having done it. There’s no depletion. There’s no creation. It’s just an aesthetic instant.” That aesthetic instant is the real subject of The Search for Freedom.
