From BC Films to the Nalu Vault
Richard Cheski made his name in the 1990s as one of the filmmakers behind BC Films. Between 1992 and 1999 he made eleven snowboard and surf films, most of them with his partner JC Brady, shot across Utah, Colorado, Oregon, California, British Columbia, Hawaii, Indonesia, Europe and New Zealand.
It started with New Jax in 1992, with Derek Hoffmann on camera alongside Richard and JC. Winter Warriors (1993), made in association with Derek, mixed snowboarding with big Hawaiian surf from Kelly Slater, Johnny-Boy Gomes, Derek Ho, Michael Ho and Mike Stewart. 1994 brought Total Carnage, Best of BC Films and Impact, shot on 16mm across Hawaii, Indonesia, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Utah, Oregon and New Zealand.
Crushed and Mainstream (1995) caught a new generation of riders, including Jeremy Jones and JP Walker, followed by Souled Out and Face Value in 1996 and The Calling in 1997, which took in snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, wakeboarding and skimboarding. Under Mindset Media he made Beyond the Comfort Zone (1999), and in 2002 he and Derek co-directed Primetime, a kiteboarding film shot in the Hawaiian Islands.
Today Richard is the archivist at the Nalu Film Foundation. At the foundation's office in Mission Viejo he does the hands-on preservation work, scanning film reels, digitizing videotapes and preserving photographs for the Nalu Vault.
