Sunshine Superman

Invited
Sunshine Superman traces the story of Carl Boenish, the father of modern BASE jumping. The acronym—Buildings, Antennas, Spans, and Earth—describes a parachuted leap from a stationary object, a building, a bridge, a mountain. This exhilarating film charts Boenish’s beginnings as a skydiver, his first forays into cinematography, and the remarkable ways he photographed his sport: He rigged incredible contraptions from cliffs to capture his friends plunging off of ledges and outfitted himself with cameras and audio equipment to document his own leaps. He built a community around the unconventional sport, and found a soulmate in his wife, Jean, who loved it as much as he did. Recollections from Jean and other jumpers bring past events to life as they describe the rush of falling through the air and the high-stake antics often involved in scaling the places from which they jumped. Amazingly, there’s a trove of films and recordings to bolster their remarkable stories, allowing us to soar through the air with them. Mirroring the sensation of free-falling, this inspiring film moves us through tremendous footage by a man with an outrageous inclination, and memories and anecdotes from people who were willing to take the plunge with him. ST
Director
Marah Strauch
Producers
Eric Bruggemann, Marah Strauch
Editors
Marah Strauch, Eric Bruggemann, Kevin Mcguinness
Cinematographers
Vasco Nunes, Nicolay Poulsen
Release Year
2014
Festival Year
2015
Country
United States, Norway, United Kingdom
Run Time
101 minutes