Last week, Tremaine and company descended upon New York City to attend the premiere of Angry Sky at the Tribeca Film Festival. What is this Angry Sky I speak of, you may ask? Well, even if you didn't, Angry Sky is the latest documentary to be directed by Tremaine for ESPN's celebrated 30 For 30 series, and it details the story of Nick Piantanida, a truck driver and exotic pet dealer from New Jersey who in 1965 decided he could join an elite group of men who had been to the final frontier—space. Although an avid parachutist and free fall skydiver, Nick had no formal training in aeronautics yet set out to take a balloon into the atmosphere and jump out at 123,500 feet, setting a world record as he free fell back to Earth. Nick's willpower and charisma would get him into space with the dream of turning him into what he always aspired to be: a true American hero—a lofty goal that would ultimately lead to his tragic end.
If any of this sounds vaguely familiar, it's probably because I once made mention of it all in a post dedicated to Tremaine's cloud photography. That, of course, was a different sort of "angry sky" deal, because it was all inspired by Tremaine's frustration with the high cost of stock sky photography. He was convinced he could do just as well with his own damn phone, and so inflamed he immediately set out to do so while on a location scout in Tampa Bay, Florida, for a Bud Light spot. The result was nothing short of ... well ... photos of the sky? With clouds? Click here to see!
Anyway, I'm really only prattling on to make adequate room for the Angry Sky poster image at right. The photo potpourri below comes courtesy of phones from Mat Hoffman, Lacey Reilly, Katie Doering, and maybe one or two others that had a hand in the production. Special thanks to everyone who made it out to the premiere that evening, especially the Piantanida clan!
Photos clockwise from upper left: Mat Hoffman holds his golden ticket to the Angry Sky premiere; Mat, Spike Jonze, and Brendan Canty, the drummer of Fugazi, in extremely dim lighting; A broad shot of the Piantanida family, along with Mat, Tremaine, and a wee Seth Casriel, the editor of the documentary; Tremaine rocks the mic for a post-premiere Q&A session.
Photos clockwise from upper left: Seth Casriel proudly displays his Hoffman Bikes shirt (Seth was also the editor on The Birth of Big Air, hence his undying love and admiration for Mat and all things Hoffman); Tremaine cuts a mighty mean red rug; Mat Hoffman captured this awfully fine still life of Tremaine's butt crack; Angry Sky productioneers Katie Doering, Stephanie Newman-Smith, and Lacey Reilly.
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