Creation Theory is not just a movie about adventure sports, it’s a meditation on how we create meaning from the world around us. Director Ben Sturgulewski connects grand ideas with the experience of wilderness travel and adventure.
The film is set in the Westfjords of Iceland, where towering mountains meet the rough sea. Here, in this dramatic landscape, Creation Theory draws parallels between adventure, music, human creativity, and the natural world.
Whether it’s a surfer catching a wave, a snowboarder carving a line down a peak, or a musician on a stage, the film explores how these acts of creation reflect the natural forces at work around us.
It somewhat grandiosely asks, “Where does creativity come from?” and attempts to answer this through a blend of big, expansive visuals and commentary from a mix of surfers and snowboarders.
Abstract notions
The featured athletes try to articulate their own links between their craft, nature, and creativity. “You can feel the rhythm in your life, you can feel the rhythm in elements, you can feel the waves that come and go in your personal human experience,” snowboarder Robin Van Gyn reflects.
That all sounds rather abstract, but anyone who enjoys playing in the outdoors has experienced that feeling of creation — whether plotting a kayaking route on a map, weaving a route on a jumbled rock face, or picking a line down a mountain bike run.
Just to make it even more theoretical, the film is built around the themes of interstellar creation, space, and time, drawing on concepts from Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Like me, you may not be able to connect all the dots, but Creation Theory will leave you thinking.
