Go.Go.Go: Skiing, Surfing, a Super 8 Camera, and Micro RV in Japan

Analog filmmaking. Pow skiing. Small-wave surfing. Vanlife living. These are all very nice things. Now, write them all into a single storyline and set that trip on the island nation of Japan, and that’s not just nice, that’s inspirational—aspirational even. That’s also the gist of a new bite-sized short film by pro skiers Mike Henitiuk & Callum Pettit called Go.Go.Go.

This isn’t your typical ski vid. It’s more Super 8 home-movie travelogue than snowscape sizzle reel. The film's brief narrative begins in Tokyo streets, but it doesn’t stay there long, thanks to a mini RV that carries the pair to colder, snowier climes, and later, to the iconic seashore for a bit of surfing (spoiler: the snow is deeper than the waves are tall).

Despite its sub-five-minute runtime, Go.Go.Go is fast-paced. No scene is longer than a few pow turns, and most are half-second glimpses of traveling around Honshu by van—shrines, Sapporos, and most importantly, 7/11.

Both a tool for keeping attention and the result of strict physical filmmaking parameters—filmer Alex Biel only had 13 rolls of Super 8 film to document the entire journey with—Go.Go.Go and its nonstop series of short, grainy clips artfully transports the viewer's to place and time we’d certainly rather be. It may only be for a few minutes, but boy does it do the trick.