Chase Ogden’s ‘Super Frenchie to screen June 4

Above : Matthias Giraud is the focus of Chase Ogden’s documentary “Super Frenchie,” which opens at the Magic Lantern on June 4. (Photo/The Spokesman-Review)

Among the many losses that the COVID-19 pandemic caused, the 2021 Spokane International Film Festival was particularly bothersome for area movie fans.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that one of the best films to play at SpIFF 2020 will be opening at the Magic Lantern Theatre on Friday, June 4.

“Super Frenchie” is a documentary feature, directed by Chase Ogden, that follows the career of Matthias “Super Frenchie” Giraud , a French-born extreme skier who specializes in base-jumping off big mountains.

Now living in Bend, Ore., Giraud boasts a number of records, including being the first to ski-base-jump off Oregon’s Mount Hood, and he still holds the record for the highest ski-base-jump off Switzerland’s the Matterhorn.

Ogden, as I’ve written in the past, is an associate professor of film studies at Eastern Washington University. Ogden, a former SpIFF director, has directed a number of short films, and “Super Frenchie” is his first documentary feature. Spokesman-Review staff writer Eli Francovich i nterviewed Ogden last January.

I previewed the documentary on this blog before it screened at SpIFF, taking pains to point out that at the time I was a volunteer member of the festival’s board of directors. That said, I wasn’t engaging in mere ad-speak: I truly did (and still do) like the film.

As, clearly, does Irish Film Critic Malika Harris : “This is an exciting, terrifying, and incredibly inspiring film about being brave and living out your dream no matter the cost.”

Freelance film critic Mike McGranahan is a bit more subdued in his praise, though he does admit that “it’s hard not to be impressed by the insane stuff he pulls off” – “he,” of course, referring to Giraud.

And, in the end, McGranaham wisely leaves the final judgment to us.

“Is he (Giraud),” McGranahan asks, “a pioneer, fearlessly demonstrating the boundaries to which human beings can push themselves, or a self-centered risk-taker who gets high thumbing his nose at death? Or could he possibly be both? If you have even a remote curiosity about daredevil feats, ‘Super Frenchie’ is worth seeing so you can decide for yourself.”

Can I get an amen?