The year 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of Warren Miller Entertainment. Ever since 1949, skiers and riders have recognized Warren Miller as a household name and the creator of iconic winter sports films including Steep and Deep (1985), Freeriders (1998), and Children of Winter (2008). Although Warren Miller himself is no longer with us (he passed in 2018), the latest Warren Miller film will be released this fall, aptly titled 75.
The film has a stacked list of athletes including Aaron Blunck, Danny Davis, Caite Zeliff, Connery Lundin, Daron Rahlves, Shaun White, Jeremy Jones, JJ Thomas, and more skiing and riding in locations like Canada, Colorado, California, and Utah, Finland, Japan, Austria, and New Jersey. To celebrate this massive milestone, Warren Miller is going on tour, with showings of 75 across North America from October to December. I checked in with Warren Miller film producer Josh Haskins and Warren Miller athlete Caite Zeliff to hear their takes on what makes 75 so special.
Adventure film producer Josh Haskins’ career was inspired by Warren Miller from a young age. “I grew up watching Warren Miller movies with my family,” he said, “and always looked forward to the annual event and kickoff to winter. Ten or so years later, I entered the film studies program at CU Boulder, realized the Warren Miller world headquarters were in Boulder and, in that moment, decided I wanted to work for the company.”
Since college, Haskins has been behind many of Warren Miller Entertainment’s greatest hits, including Face of Winter and Daymaker, to name a small few. So, how is 75 different for Josh as opposed to past projects?
Danny Davis, Josh Haskins, and Caite Zeliff amongst it.
“We are celebrating a 75-year milestone and doing so by taking a glimpse at what the future of sliding on snow looks like,” he said. “We went big this year, creating some tried-and-true stories and also worked with some new filmmakers for a fresh take on the direction of ski and snowboard culture.”
Haskins explained, “above anything, we aim to entertain our audience and take them on a journey as they watch the film. Our goal always is to reignite the stoke for winter and get people excited for the coming ski and snowboard season.”
Caite Zeliff, one of the Warren Miller athletes featured in 75 (as well as a two-time winner of Kings and Queens of Corbet’s) echoes the idea that storytelling will be a larger component of Warren Miller’s future, with 75 providing that first glimpse. “Usually, there is a strategy with ski films where you take a bunch of athletes and you go to different areas and you ski rad stuff and you put music behind it and you put it into an hour-long film,” she said.
“With Warren Miller, those tend to be even longer films. The reality that we’re all seeing in the trends within the industry is that shorter content is performing really well. My understanding of how they’re trying to do it differently is that they are sharing smaller segments as their own independent stories. The segment that I took part in and the storyline that we all shared was that I was a ski racer before I went into big mountain skiing, and I was slowly transitioning into the mountaineering space.”
“I’m from the East Coast and we did some filming here in north Conway at Cranmore, where I learned to ski,” says Zeliff. “It’s a little thousand-foot vertical ski hill. I got to share these parts of me that the ski industry’s never seen because they don’t really ask about your backstory.”
“You’re going to Alaska with TGR,” she continued. “They want to see you jump off some stuff. So it was cool to lean into sharing more about where my love for skiing came from and where I’m at now.” Zeliff filmed her segment for 75 with professional snowboarder Danny Davis and professional skier Aaron Blunck. “Danny and Aaron were both comp riders. Now, Danny has transitioned into the big mountain space. Aaron is in that transition place, and we talk about the differences of being in a competition and how that can be quite rigid, and then having the opportunity to evolve and create more of a creative endeavor with your skiing. From my understanding, as far as ushering in a new era, we are sharing a more human side of the story, sharing a bit more about what the athletes have going on on a personal level instead of just showing a bunch of athletes going to a cool place, high fiving and skiing some gnarly stuff.”
Zeliff appreciates this change. “It’s something I can really get behind, because you can only see people triple backflipping so many times. Of course, as a skier, I can get behind that, but I think as the average consumer, it’s nice to see a bit more of the human side of things.”
Even as an athlete, Zeliff admits this change is more than welcome. “I’ve been doing ski films for eight years now, and I’d like to see some change. I’m ready for something new. I’m sure whoever is watching these films feels the same way.”
Haskins followed up, saying that even more generally, 75 aims to please not just one genre of skier or rider, but as many as possible: “Warren Miller continue to entertain audiences of all ages and demographics, create inclusivity in the sport, and showcase the amazing progression of athletes. Warren Miller’s 75 is for anyone interested in taking this cinematic adventure with us. Young and old, it’s a film for everyone.”
