Beyond Medals: A History in Snowboard Films
There's a lot to like about Beyond Medals. The riding is exceptional, the production is excellent, and the crew seems to have a bottomless appetite for taking the piss. Particularly when it comes to their film introductions.
Long before they were making technical outerwear, Kevin Bäckström and Tor Lundström were making snowboard videos with their mates. What started in 2012 as BYND x MDLS has grown into a film crew with an expanding cast and a seemingly unlimited supply of ridiculous ideas.
Somewhere along the way, someone decided a snowboard film needed a full-blown cinematic opening, complete with costumes, elaborate sets and some pretty questionable acting. Instead of talking anyone out of it, the crew appears to have encouraged the behaviour. Good decision, we reckon.
We've lined up their major snowboard productions in chronological order. Watch from the beginning and you'll see the riding, filmmaking and ridiculousness evolve together.
Turn it up. You might be here a while.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
2015 | BYND x MDLS: The Movie
Before the cinematic extravaganzas, there was BYND x MDLS: The Movie.
Kevin, Tor and their mates took the energy of the original web series and stretched it into a proper snowboard film. Plenty of riding, plenty of travelling and the sort of antics that probably didn't feature in the Swedish national team's training manual.
Watch their air awareness and how casually they put difficult tricks down. The personalities were already there; the opportunities to get carried away were only going to increase.
2016 | Vacation Forever
Now there's a title that sounds like a career plan.
Vacation Forever takes the crew further into independent snowboard filmmaking. Travel the world, ride incredible places, film your mates and somehow convince somebody to pay for the privilege. Not a bad arrangement.
The real attraction is Kevin and Tor's unmistakable style in the air. It's the sort of riding that looks effortless right up until you try explaining to your legs what you just watched.
THE ANNUAL FILMS
2019 | Bronze Age
By Bronze Age, Beyond Medals had found its rhythm. The crew was growing, the riding was getting ambitious, and the production had developed a personality of its own.
Keep an eye out for Sebbe De Buck's Audi Nines footage, including synchronised aerials with Rene Rinnekangas. Huge airs and enough creativity to make you question whether gravity applies to these blokes.
And if all that looks a little too easy, there's some fairly confronting crash footage to bring everyone back to earth.
2020 | Betty Ford
Named after the famous American rehabilitation centre, Betty Ford is a fairly cheeky title for a snowboard film. Particularly one featuring a crew that doesn't appear especially interested in moderation.
Kevin, Tor, Sebbe De Buck, David Djité and Max Buri offer five very different approaches to snowboarding, and it's a good reminder that style is as important as the tricks themselves.
But the best part of the joke doesn't arrive until the following year.
2021 | Relapse
Following Betty Ford with Relapse is precisely the sort of humour we've come to expect from Beyond Medals. And they don't leave it at the title.
The intro finds the crew transformed into elderly residents of a rehabilitation centre, complete with elaborate makeup and costumes. Apparently, nobody questioned whether spending a ridiculous amount of time turning snowboarders into pensioners was a sensible idea. Thank goodness for that.
Then Ludvig Billtoft steals the show with a two-song closing part moving between technical street riding and backcountry freestyle. It's a standout performance, and a good reminder that these boys can back up the comedy with some seriously heavy snowboarding.
Kevin delivers a cracking part too, while Ulrik Badertscher brings his own brand of chaos. This might be the perfect introduction to what the crew does best.
2022 | Bahamas
You'd be forgiven for expecting palm trees and cocktails. Instead, Bahamas opens with a strange glimpse into the year 2035. Even in the future, this crew can't resist making a production out of going snowboarding.
From there the riders get room to do their thing, with individual sections and music choices giving the film plenty of character.
Powder, big airs, technical riding and more style than seems reasonable. The name still doesn't make much sense, but we're not complaining.
2023 | Casino
Somewhere along the way, the boys discovered Martin Scorsese.
Casino takes a fairly enthusiastic swing at the director's 1995 crime classic, complete with a gangster-inspired opening and the sort of theatrical commitment you'd normally expect from people with a Hollywood budget. The effort they've put into taking the piss is admirable.
Once the acting careers are put on hold, Mikkel Bang and Ballistyx favourite Sage Kotsenburg join an already stacked crew. Sage is a particularly fitting addition: after winning Olympic slopestyle gold at Sochi in 2014, he left the competition circuit to chase backcountry riding and film parts on his own terms. Quite literally beyond medals.
And on a personal note, I had a genuine 'holy fuck' moment watching this when I realised Sage was bald. How had I never noticed? From one follically challenged snowboarder to another, nothing but respect.
Anyway, back to the snowboarding. It's an absolute cracker, and skipping that intro would be criminal.
2024 | Force Majeure
Just when you thought the intros couldn't get any more ridiculous, along comes Force Majeure. Giant monsters, superhero-inspired nonsense and a crew increasingly determined to turn its snowboard films into blockbusters.
Think Godzilla meets the Power Rangers, only with considerably better snowboarding.
At this point we're starting to wonder whether the riding funds the intros or the other way around.
It's a tighter production, but there's plenty crammed in: big backcountry hits, creative street riding, impressive cinematography and a soundtrack that deserves its own shout-out.
Another belter.
2025 | Cease and Desist
After the gangster treatment of Casino and the monster-movie madness of Force Majeure, what could possibly come next? Cease and Desist, apparently.
And this one has a punchline. The crew reportedly received a cease-and-desist letter from the International Olympic Committee over clothing using a five-ring motif. Not the Scorsese lawyers we'd been imagining, but somehow even better.
Rather than dialling things down, they've gone all in on another fantasy-film-inspired introduction. Of course they have.
Once the theatrics are over, there's excellent riding across Japan, Canada, the United States and Switzerland. Keep an eye out for Sebbe De Buck bonking a huge pillow off a tree, a moment the film crew themselves singled out.
At this stage, we're almost as excited about what they dream up for the opening as we are to see the riding. Almost.
MORE FROM THE CREW
The Original BYND x MDLS Episodes
Before the feature films, Kevin and Tor were documenting their adventures through the original BYND x MDLS web series.
A number of those early episodes can still be found on the Shredbots YouTube channel. They're a great look at where it all started, long before the elaborate intros and bigger film productions became a Beyond Medals signature.
Watch the early BYND x MDLS videos on Shredbots
Skateboarding and Side Projects
Beyond Medals has never confined itself to snowboarding. The crew has also produced skateboarding films, including You Can't Win and Bad Trip, bringing the same creative approach to a different kind of board.
Alongside those releases are individual rider projects, including Sebbe De Buck's Get Buck.
Explore more films from Beyond Medals
WHAT'S NEXT FOR BEYOND MEDALS?
After years of turning out a snowboard film almost every season, Beyond Medals is giving its next production two years. More time to travel, chase conditions, stack footage and presumably dream up an opening sequence so ridiculous it requires its own production budget.
Will there be bigger tricks? More ambitious locations? A full Hollywood production with a bit of snowboarding squeezed between the credits? Your guess is as good as ours.
We'll just have to wait and see what they've cooked up. Given their track record, we're expecting something pretty special. And possibly another phone call from somebody's legal department.
There's a lot more to Beyond Medals than what happens in front of the camera. The friendships, the creative freedom and a shared love of snowboarding have taken Kevin, Tor and the crew well beyond making films. These days, they're putting that same energy into creating some pretty exceptional snowboard outerwear.
Want to know how two Swedish snowboarders turned a web series into a way of life? Head over to our latest Brand in Focus article, Beyond Medals: Making a Life of It, for the story behind the crew and the brand they've created.
