Xavier Mayrand & Mathieu Dufresne - Word To The Wise

Hey Xavier. Tell us all about this new project, and what went into the making of it.

Word To The Wise is a short street skiing film starring Mat Dufresne. The making of this film was quite something. Last season was the hardest for me to put a project together by a mile. Mat and I both had a rough time personally, which brought its load of challenges to the filming of this project. Then on the timing front, we had conflicting schedules through Mat’s coaching and my judging on the competition side of things. Finally, Montreal, like pretty much everywhere in North America, had a really bad snow year. Most of the shots we got this season were on the bare minimum amount of snow needed to get things done. So the project was pulled off by making the most of it when both of our schedules aligned and we hustled like never before to get something done despite the circumstances. Again, it was the hardest project I’ve ever tackled, but also probably the one I'm most proud of.

Photo by Xavier Mayrand

What prompted you guys to focus on making a shorter edit on the heels of your films, MTL and MTL2?

With MTL & MTL2 I wanted to put together a piece that was broader than the classic ski porn formula of back-to-back tricks. With the Montreal theme, I took the time to showcase everything that was going on around said shots—the struggles, the wins, the sights, etc. But for Word To The Wise, I wanted to go back to the roots of the ski porn street segment. Do something that was shorter and more focused on Mat’s insane skills.

Photo by Xavier Mayrand

What was the biggest highlight of shooting it?

The biggest highlight to me would be Mat's closing shot. I passed by this bridge dozens of times per year in the past, and every time my freeskier eyes would steer to the side and look at the railing. Then as I got a bit into road biking, I would pass that same bridge in the bike lane, and see that there could indeed be something done. I would just need a skier who was keen for Cam Riley types of features. Then, in 2023 while filming for MTL2, we filmed a wallride spot underneath that bridge. During the long process of getting the shot, Mat and I had more than enough time to look at the bridge rail and see that the spot was indeed possible, and how we would go about doing it eventually. That season was coming to an end, but this spot was officially in our backlog for the future. Last winter, we were aiming for a spot close to that bridge, but ended up getting kicked out. On our drive away from the spot, we passed under the bridge and both looked at each other thinking the same thing. It was early season still, and we both would have preferred to wait a few more weeks for more snow to accumulate on the ground for such a gnarly spot, but for whatever reason we both agreed to go for it. In hindsight, it was the best decision, because as the season went on there was only less and less snow on the ground. I’ve never been as concerned as I was for an athlete when when we filmed it. The consequences were as high as it gets, but I had full trust in Mat. And I could see it was the same for Mat. He was fully focused and you could see he understood what he was tackling. He tried the in-run over five times to make sure everything was good. You could see the whole mental game going on for such a spot, and Mat had to calm his body down. I could see him almost shaking from the jitters. Then Mat did what Mat does. The first two tries ended up with bails where Mat saved himself like the cat he is. The third time was the charm though, and Mat laced it as good as it gets, as you can see in the closing shot of the project, with a lot of relief and disbelief at how well it all went.

Photo by Xavier Mayrand

Are you happy with how Word To The Wise has turned out?


I’m super happy with the result of this project. There’s always two sides of looking at it in my mind. What the people watching it see without knowing the behind-the-scenes of the project, and then what you see knowing everything that went into it. At face value, I think this project stands really well on its own and that Mat’s skiing is amongst the best in the world, no doubt about that. Then, as the director who had to go through all the struggles we’ve had to make this project come to life, it’s kind of a little miracle that we got a project like this done, which makes me even more stoked.

Photo by Xavier Mayrand

What are your plans for the coming winter? Will we be seeing another edit from you guys this time next year?

Our plans are still being made as we speak. I love working with Mat and we definitely want to produce something this season. The complicated thing is that we both have busy schedules that often don’t fit. So it’s a big Tetris game right now of seeing what’s feasible with all the financial and schedule constraints.

Photo by Xavier Mayrand

Is there anything else you’d like to add, or people to thank?


I want to add a big shout-out to Mat. I am definitely biased, but I want to give him his flowers. The run he’s just had with MTL, MTL2 and Word To The Wise is legendary. Three back-to-back full street segments of top tier quality is something very rarely seen in freeskiing, and that takes a lot of dedication and hard work to pull off. Also a big shout-out to the sponsors, without whom projects like these cannot be done: J Skis, Newschoolers, Joystick and Axis—thank you! And thank you to all the friends who helped us during last season. Most of the spots are solo missions with Mat and I, but when friends come out to help it makes a world of difference. So thank you to Alex and Tom Gallon, Phil Boily-Doucet, and Félix Rioux.