Crested Butte Film Fest: Taras

In March 2022, Ukrainian snowboard champion Taras Bihus hung up his snowboard boots and volunteered for the Ukrainian military. What he didn’t expect was the horror he would see along the way. Within nature he finds the peace he needs to begin processing his experience. A Matchstick Productions short film.

Film director. Conservationist. Pot belly pig wrangler. Geodesic dome off-grid living but don’t dare call him a hippie. Zeppelin would prefer to be in the mountains riding his snowboard or chasing elk and though he prides himself on a Midwest work ethic, he spends more time behind a computer than with a shovel in his hand. He’ll tell you nothing scares him but will still walk backwards up the stairs if the lights are turned off in the basement. He claims to be relaxed, yet is perpetually anxious about the state of the world and makes films in an effort to contribute something to the conversation. He’s won some awards, including three Vimeo Staff Picks and a Gold Telly Award. Most recently his film Apayauq premiered with the Los Angeles Times and qualified for the 2024 Academy Awards.