#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. This summer, Krasnoyarsk residents Artyom Vladimirov and Sergey Bystrykin set off on an exciting journey from Karelia to the Murmansk region, but they decided to get to their destination not by car or other transport, but on their skateboards! During a month of extreme driving on Russian roads from Petrozavodsk to the city of Zapolyarny, they shot impressive footage on action cameras and captured the unique beauty of the northern regions. At the end of October, a multi-part documentary about the athletes’ adventures, The Road to the Arctic Circle, was released online.
“At some point, I realized that there was no good, high-quality video product in the world about skateboarding and traveling on boards. Plus, I always wanted to study our country and how people live in different parts of it. We chose the route to the North to show how nature changes as we approach the Arctic Circle and to convey the unique flavor of remote territories. In the film, we tried to reflect how we saw the country through the prism of our hobby, I think it turned out to be a good story”, said Artyom Vladimirov.
The 1,100-kilometer route itself was familiar to the travelers, because both have extensive experience riding on difficult trails, and two years ago they already debuted in documentary filmmaking: they shot their first film, Yenisey Route. For that, they set off from Krasnoyarsk to Mongolia and also covered many kilometers on skateboards. The film can also be watched online and experience vivid and unforgettable emotions together with the characters.
Rushing along the trails to the Arctic, the skateboarders independently collected material for the future video series, and sometimes it was not easy: periodic precipitation, hordes of biting mosquitoes and other unforeseen circumstances made their own adjustments. Only at the end of the expedition did the film crew come to them, and they covered the return journey to Moscow by car.
“Filming a documentary is a huge job, it’s not difficult to just skate to the end point, it’s more difficult to move, not forgetting about safety rules, not to miss really worthwhile shots and to film them, but that’s only half the battle, then comes the painstaking editing – and only after that we can see the final product. Almost a year passed from the idea to the film release”, Artyom noted.
When asked what he remembered most from the trip along the northern roads, the extreme sportsman shared that the beauty of the Arctic remains in memory forever.
“Traveling around the Murmansk region, I managed to visit a place I had long wanted to visit – the abandoned village of Dalnye Zelentsy, amazing views opened up to me as a photographer, it’s like an open-air museum! I had lived in Murmansk for a short time before, and many things were familiar to me, but Sergey was in the North for the first time, and he was very impressed. In addition, we managed to swim in the Barents sea – fortunately, at that time the weather was hot for the North, and we swam in comfort!” Artyom said about the most vivid memories of the trip.
The enthusiastic and energetic Siberians are not going to stop there and are setting new goals for themselves, in the future they plan to conquer Altai and Primorsky region on skates, about which they will shoot another exciting educational film.
Earlier, Tis Is Taimyr reported that a Norilsk boxer became fifth at the world championship among juniors.
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Text: Polina Bardik, Photo: provided by Artyom Vladimirov
