When the Vans Euro Team hits up France, you’d expect nothing but full mayhem. Off the Bees is a short film by Guillaume Sturma (also known for his great work with Brust) that follows nine riders around four dreamy French resorts: Les Deux Alpes, Avoriaz, Tignes and Les Arcs.
Exposed to all the thrilling backcountry drops and steezy street edits that are dropping left right and centre, we often tend to forget the pure joys of riding within the boundaries of a resort. Off the Bees follows Arthur Longo, Valérien Ducourtil, Joe Simpson, Jake Simpson, Nikita Sekh, Sparrow Knox, Nicolas Palladio, Louis Labertrande & Kimani Metsc blasting through the French alps, reminding us all that we don’t always have to leave the comforts of the piste to have fun.
“When the Vans Euro Team hits up France, you’d expect nothing but full mayhem”
The film is more or less divided into two parts giving the whole thing a nice bit of variety, with the first part being a bit calmer than the second one. In the first bit, we see the boys making their way through the resorts accompanied by some mellow tunes, resulting in us wanting to quit our day job and book a one-way ticket to the French Alps, plug in our earphones and zone out when cruising down the freshly groomed piste.
The second part starts with some trashy Euro-pop music (which we absolutely love) – a very consistent beat and the poetic phrase “my life, my rules” playing on repeat throughout the song. If the first part was about mellow laps, the second part gets us truly pumped and suddenly the illusion of us being able to hit everything as effortlessly as the Simpson Brothers rushes over us (which we definitely cannot).
Vans Euro Team Riders: Arthur Longo, Valérien Ducourtil, Joe Simpson, Jake Simpson, Nikita Sekh, Sparrow Knox, Nicolas Palladio, Louis Labertrande & Kimani Metsc.
Film and Edit: Guillaume Sturma
Locations: Les Deux Alpes, Avoriaz, Tignes, Les Arcs.