Movie Review: TIA - This Is Australia

Australia is home to some of the best DH riders on the WC circuit today. There are also a slew of new and upcoming rippers that are making a name for themselves on the Australian racing scene. TIA (not to be confused with TNA ;o) is a new video/documentary to come out of the land down under which give you an apercu of what it’s like to chase your dreams of becoming the fastest racer in Australia.
TIA is filmed, edited and produced by Sam Davies. TIA is Sam’s second movie – some of you might be familiar with his first film called “Compression” that showcased the 2006/2007 Australian National MTB series, which is probably the most competitive National series in the world!

TIA brings you great riding footage and interviews from some of the best Australian racers. Sam gets some 1 on 1 time with the riders as they talk about their fellow competitors and what it really takes to get top spot on the podium. Footage includes riders shredding secret trails that they have build themselves, rider competing at local races, riders training on their moto’s and riders just chillin’ at home, talking about what it’s like to ride/train/live in Australia.


Some of the riders featured in TIA: Nathan Rennie, Jared Graves, Sam Hill, Chris Kovarik, Mitch Delfs, Amiel Cavalier and many more. Interviews were really interesting, but a bit long – would have been nice to have the voices overlay with some riding footage instead of footage of the riders talking.

MTB movies are subjective and it’s hard to please everyone. I personally enjoyed the riding footage and soundtrack of this movie – especially Mitch Delfs section! The kid can rip and he’s got footage to back it up! His section alone made me want to jump on my bike and go ride.


The footage was a bit dark at times, but that didn’t take anything away from the quality of the riding. If you’re a big MTB movie fan, which means you’ve watched most of the new MTB movies that have been released over the past 2-3 years, then you’ll get a kick out of Sam Hill’s section. Otherwise you probably won’t get the inside joke!


Main feature’s running time is about 1h15m and there is about 30mins of extras, including some cool helmet cam work and Photography tips with Damian Breach. TIA should is available worldwide as we speak and Pinkbike.com's store should have it in stock by next week.

Get it, watch it, go ride!

Special thanks to Sam for the preview copy and sorry it took so long to get a review out!


Cheers!

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