PARTNERS IN GRIME

“Think of it like a visual love letter to your first bike and all that it enabled!” declares Jeremy Grant, director of the upcoming MTB film Accomplice. This new feature-length freeride spectacle is a collaboration between Jeremy (North of Nightfall, Where the Trail Ends) and big-time snowsports production company Teton Gravity Research. Their ambition has been to go deeper than just big-name athletes and mind-blowing riding.

“We’ve tried to tell the stories of some of the amazing humans in the biking community,” Jeremy explains, noting that while the film is packed full of talent – think Andreu Lacondeguy, Cam McCaul, Graham Agassiz and many more – the riders for each segment weren’t only selected for their ability, but also for their compelling stories and strong friendships. Accomplice is one of the first major MTB films to put female riders centre-stage (including Hannah Bergemann, pictured), but according to Jeremy this wasn’t a deliberate move. “Every athlete earned their place in the film and it just so happened that some of them were women,” he tells us.

Because the team wanted to create something unique and capture the action in ways mountain biking hadn’t been seen before, they encountered a good few challenges along the way. They certainly didn’t make it easy on themselves by visiting far-flung places such as India’s Ladakh mountains and setting up remote camps in the wilds of British Columbia. “One week, we’d be shooting an emotionally raw story, the next we’d be chasing animals around the forest, nervously hoping a double backflip was landed or wishing we’d trained better to ride at 11,000ft in the Himalayas,” laughs Jeremy. “Every segment required a different set of skills as a filmmaker.” From what we’ve seen so far, it sounds like their effort was worth it, and we’re excited to see the final cut.