Jury named for Nissan Outdoor Games 2010

With less than a week to go before the Nissan Outdoor Games 2010 begins in Chamonix, the jury have been named and through a competition sponsored by Julbo Eyewear, a trio of French audiovisual arts students have been awarded the role of leading the French team.

Maxime Moulin, Lois Simac and Gwennaël Brun from Lyon will direct the film by the French team whose athletes include paragliding champions Antoine Montant (FR) and Felix Rodriguez (ES).

The jury of six, all experts in outdoor sports and audiovisuals, has also been named. Its members have the responsibility of choosing the winners for the various awards, whose total prize money amounts to 32 000 €. The selected jury are as follows:

– President of the jury, Stefano De Benedetti (IT), is a renowned extreme skier with several first descents in the Mont-Blanc mountain range in the ’80s and ’90s. Knowing this mountain range perfectly, he even has a couloir named after him on the west face of the Mont-Blanc! De Benedetti is also used to filming in tough outdoor conditions, starring in movies like Steep – a feature documentary on big mountain skiing.

– Philippe Lebeau (FR) is the initiator of the project for the 2018 winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Annecy (France). He is also the president of Club 2018, an initiative for small and medium enterprises in the Rhône-Alpes region to back Annecy’s bid to host the Olympics. Lebeau is an enthusiastic sportsman with a background as amateur triathlete and will have an interesting viewpoint as jury member. As director of the communication agency Aerocom, he is a specialist in short film production, an interesting asset for the jury.

– Legendary skier and one of the pioneers of the freeride skiing movement, Glen Plake (US) is also a charismatic TV presenter with his own TV show in the US. Plake is a part time resident in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, and has started the prestigious mountain guide training at the ENSA in Chamonix. He has been part of the jury in previous editions of the Nissan Outdoor Games –

– The talented Swiss Geraldine Fasnacht is counted amongst the world’s top BASE-jumpers, wingsuit flyers, and snowboarders, with impressive first descents on snowboard and wingsuit in Antarctica and Baffin Island. She is also a former winner of the prestigious Xtreme, a freeride contest in Verbier, Switzerland. Fasnacht knows the Nissan Outdoor Games well as she has been a team member in several previous editions. Before the prize-giving and public screening of the contributing films on stage in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc on 15 July, she will present the latest film from her Antarctica expedition.

– Dino Raffault from France is an extreme sports events organiser for events like the Speed Flying Pro in Les Arcs  and the Line Catcher. Extreme sport film producer and journalist, Dino, who is passionate for the outdoors is also a renowned Wescam operator (helicopter onboard camera) who has been a member of the jury in previous editions of the Nissan Outdoor Games.

– With several generations of mountain guides in the family, David Ravanel (FR) from Chamonix is not an exception. He splits his time between mountain guide assignments and professional photography, either in the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc region or on remote expeditions. He has been Head of Mountain Rescue in the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc valley and is also a serious BASE-jumper.

www.nissanoutdoorgames.com