22-year-old Kevin Pearce had just come off of the most successful competitive season of his snowboarding career, challenging the dominance of his friend and rival, snowboarding legend Shaun White. Kevin’s professional ascent came at a time when snowboarding tricks were becoming more and more breathtaking – but also more dangerous.
On December 31, 2009, while riding the slopes of Park City, Utah in final training for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Kevin missed his landing and took a hard fall.
He was airlifted to the hospital, where doctors scrambled to save his life as his family flew from their home in Vermont to be at his side. When Kevin finally woke up from his coma - that was only the beginning of a long road to recovering from his Traumatic Brain Injury. From language to vision, motor skills to memory, Kevin had to come to terms with his new impairments.
This is the story told in The Crash Reel - a film by two-time Academy Award nominated filmmaker, Lucy Walker. The Crash Reel is screening at The Berkshire International Film Festival on Friday at 6:30pm at The Triplex in Great Barrington, MA.
Love Your Brain is a social action campaign born out of The Crash Reel. Learn more here.
The film will also premiere on HBO as part of their Docs Summer Series on July 15th.
