SUNDAI PRESENTS « BORDEAUX DELICACIES » BY NIGEL GAVUS

To accompany the release of “Bordeaux Delicacies”, we asked a few questions to the author Nigel Gavus. The opportunity to learn a little more before watching the video on our channel.

Can you introduce yourself and the guys you filmed with ?

Hello it’s Nigel Gavus and I’m a filmmaker and visual artist from Vienna, Austria. In this case I’m also a skateboarder, like the others in this clip. Luci, a friend of mine asked me to come to Bordeaux with him, as he wanted to meet up with some of his Friends from Magenta Skateboards and I said I will join him for a week. So I talked to Fred, and asked him if he would be there as well, and so he joined from Barcelona to his hometown by Flixbus and also offered housing at the end to Samu, the homie who drove with his van spontaneously from Austria to Bordeaux in two days straight. He told me he was chewing on some cacao-beans so he wouldn’t fall asleep. Alex let us crash his place and also Pierre hosted Samu and Fred at one point cause they had to ride bikes like good 15km uphill in the middle of the night, after the sessions. I met all of the Bordeaux Locals in 2016 in Barcelona when I was living there for a while. Also I became good friends with Fred over the years, and in my last Video « FANDANGO (2017) FANDANGO (2017) on Vimeo »he had also a really cool part. All is filmed in a couple of months. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it.

The one who has the last part (i dont have his name, sorry) he reminds me Jimmmy Carlin, he looks mad and his skating looks unpredictable. Do you have some words about him ?

Yes, you mean probably Samu. He is a special character and I think his skating really speaks for itself. It’s something unique about him that is really hard to put in words. He is one of those guys who really doesn’t care too much and just having fun on his board. If he is inspired, he is always down to fi lm something, but there is also times when he doesn’t like to be in front of the camera at all. You gotta be lucky to catch him in the right mood. As I mentioned before, he just decided to come spontaneously and told me on the phone he come by and stay for a week. After the trip he went to the Normandie for surfing I believe and later on to harvest vine somewhere else in France. Actually he is still on the road, working as a cook in Switzerland at the moment, for another month or so. I would say he is defi nitely a good friend, and actually we spend more time off than on the skateboard together. So it was fun to share some sessions cause that’s quite rare these days.

What make the city of Bordeaux so special ?

Bordeaux is a really cozy city, and so different than other cities in France I think… kinda reminds me of Graz, my hometown. It’s were Samu and I are from, a small city in the south of Austria. I like to just skate around, not using public transportation, sometime getting pulled by Pierre with his„electronique“ Bike. So many spots to skate, good food, cool scene, cute little streets as well as a very special light I think. I knew Bordeaux only from videos before… I used to really like the old Magenta stuff, as well as the „Minuit“ Videos were defi nitely a huge inspiration and it was cool to hang out with Yoan Taillandier for a day. He is for sure one of my favourite filmers & editors in skateboarding. I think it was good that we didn’t plan out to fi lm something in first place, i just brought the camera in case we feel it. It was really cool though together with Luci to have two experienced filmers in the crew. He is the dude who initiated Turtle Productions Vienna and also flowed by Magenta Skateboards, which is also another connection to Bordeaux. I was lucky to be in front of the lens this time, with him as the second filmer. Also big shoutout to Alex Richard who let us crash in his place for the whole week, being so humble and nice, giving me a board, introducing us into the city and offering some of the Bordeaux Delicacies, like Canelé or Dunes Blanches. It’s funny how they eat so sweet stuff in the mornings. Unfortunately Alex rolled his ankle so he just got one clip in the video. Would ​have loved to film more with him. But who knows, maybe there will be another chance in future soon.

For how long did you film and  with which camera ?

As I said before, I just brought my Sony Vx1000 and some super8 film and we were there for a week only, so it’s nice we came back with so much footage. That’s the thing when you just capture what is happening, spontaneous things, not try to do the hardest tricks, more like jazzin’ through the city and have fun. And obviously it’s rare to not see Fred jumping on a single handrail in the whole clip but instead dropping from a bridge or using the „Magic Carpet“ on his Board, just like Aladdin. He took it easy this time and was more concerned about being a good host to us and definitely was the person who hyped all the dudes to skate and experience the city in a certain way, taking really good care of us. Being around him is always super inspiring.

Do you have some sides story while filming ?

Yes good ones and bad ones. On the second day we had to unfortunately witness a motorbike accident right next to a skate spot, and had a big action with Alex trying to help that person and call the ambulance etc.. it was really nerve wrecking, also to be confronted with death and hold on and pause for a moment. Thinking of every moment could be your last and recognising the body’s mortal reality.

Anyways, now a funny side story. I had observed Fred for a bit on the trip and realised he was mainly eating a special kind of cookie or biscuit next to his coffee. It’s a brand that only gets sold in France, so he gets nostalgic I think, cause he is living in Barcelona since more than ten years. That’s why it’s nice we came up with the idea of him getting out of the hole in the construction side and eating a cookie in the middle of Luci’s line. I wanna film way more stuff like that. That was also fitting the whole theme with the title of the video               .

For the last song, you choose “Je suis venu te dire” from Jane Birkin was it an hommage to her as she passed away recently ? Or you just love that song and french songs more generally ?

Ye im really into music, and for sure also love a lot of artistic stuff that came out of France, not only music wise, but also inspired by lots of   filmmakers like Bresson, Truffaut, Chris Marker, Agnes Varda etc… just to mention a few of them and like the culture in general a lot.. it’s funny now when I think I was wearing this French Jersey in one of the clips. But hey it was probably a subconscious decision with using the cover from „Stereo Total“, a German band from the 90ies, of Jane Birkin’s Song, so to say homage, but as far as I remember Serge Gainsbourg actually wrote that song. Could be also a homage to the lead singer Françoise Cactus, who also recently died. Anyways, I love how the soundtrack works together as a whole thing.

What are your future projects ?

I’m working on a essayistic documentary that I will shoot in different places in Europe and i’m basically already on the road until spring time.. so I brought my camera gear with me ​and would be down to film some skateboarding as well. Going to be in Germany, Belgium, France, Spain and maybe Marocco, so lets see, there might be another Video coming out soon. Also working together with companies could be interesting and make things like traveling a lot easier. But in first place I wanna skate and film more again, because being outside with your friends, creating together is probably one of the most fulfilling things for me at the moment.

Thank you! À toute !