The Cross Country magazine Facebook page crackled, buzzed and popped when Jean-Baptiste Chandelier, a 25 year old pilot from the French Alps posted a brilliant music video which used paragliders and the love of flying as the theme. We meet the man behind the lens
Ahead of the 2011 XC360 Short Film Competition that starts this week, that will see the top five films shown at the Coupe Icare Film Festival and the winner walking away with a SupAir harness, Jean-Baptiste has set an interesting tone for short filmmakers around the world. We tracked Jean-Baptiste down to a small village in the French Haute-Alps.
Jean-Baptiste Chandelier: Filmmaker and paraglider pilot
Who are you? Where do you live and what do you do?
I am Jean-Baptiste Chandelier, a 25 year old French guy. I live in Baratier, a small village close to Embrun city. I used to be a paragliding instructor, but since the last summer, I gave up this job to go in a new direction. Today, I make movies, but only for Little Cloud and myself. I am also a test pilot, and a young designer of paragliders. My focus is acro.
Who are the band?
There is no band! It’s just a nice friend, Luc, who drums for hobby, and me playing guitar. I’ve played drums and guitar for ten years, and have wanted to make my own music video for a long time.
Whose idea was the video?
The idea came from me. I wanted make a video for everyone, not just for the paragliding world. Initially I imagined make a mix of flying, instrumental music, and some other activity. I needed to find a nice acoustic song, and that was really hard. Then one day I saw a video on the internet which used this music, and on this video, they danced, they laughed… that give me a really good feeling! So I decided to use the same music and put some dancing in my movie too.
What is the song and where can you find it?
The song is Jungle Drum by Emilian Torrini, an Icelandic singer. It’s easy to find her online.
What other films have you made?
I’ve been making videos for two years. I started just making movies of my friends doing acro paragliding, speed riding, freestyle skiing and slack lining. The idea was to mix the sports and show that in HD. That was just when HD video was coming out.
At the time I was flying with my friend Tom Bourdeau, who founded Little Cloud paragliders with Jérome Canaud and Manu Prissett. Tom liked my video and asked me to make some movies for them. There are already 15 short videos on my website www.JeanBaptisteChandelier.com
What’s your next film production about?
I have a lot of projects. One with Little Cloud about a new glider, one with my friend Manu Romain who is the French rock climbing champion, and some with my acro partner Gill Schneider and some other friends. But they’ll take time and I’ll be working slowly because when the weather’s good, I’d rather go flying!
See more of JB’s videos at www.JeanBaptisteChandelier.com
• Got news? Send it to us at news@xccontent.local
Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine
