Steve Winter

Bio

Executive Producer/Partner

Matchstick Production’s founding father Steve Winter was determined to earn a living doing the two things he loves the most - skiing and traveling. Figuring that if he couldn’t star in ski movies he might as well make them, Steve enrolled in a video production class at the Seattle Art Institute. At the last minute, he decided his tuition money would be better spent on a used Bolex 16mm camera and a ski resort road trip in a ‘73 Volkswagen van. He had his first ski movie, the fifteen-minute Nachos and Fear, completed by the time he would have been out of school.
Passing out copies of the film at the Ski & Snowboard Convention in Las Vegas with long time friend Murray Wais, the would-be ski bums attracted the attention of the ski industry and walked straight through the front door of the ski movie business. Steve had hit the jackpot - he got to travel to Alaska, Europe, British Columbia and beyond to ski the freshest powder on the steepest slopes with the world’s most extreme skiers for his job! And a damn fine job he has done. His ski movies such as Soul Sessions, The Hedonist, Fetish, and The Tribe were received with high praises, earning Steve and Matchstick serious respect among the skiing community. From there, it was on, the movies Steve and his crew has produced sense has won many “Movie of the Year” awards.
Not even a near-death experience could stop Winter from pursuing this dream work. While filming Pura Vida in the Chilean Andes, a helicopter crash took the lives of the pilot and well-known and respected outdoor photographer T.R. Youngstrom and left Winter paralyzed due to a broken back. Through intense rehabilitation, he progressed from wheelchair to crutches and back to his own two feet. He made the most of his down time by concentrating on marketing for Sick Sense and was back behind the camera and in helicopters for Global Storming. Winter’s passion for the skiing and his determination to make the best ski movies have not gone unnoticed. Year after year Matchstick’s movies are proclaimed to be the best and Steve is one of the most highly acclaimed cinematographers in the business.
The passion for filmmaking is the driving force for Steve now. He continues to enjoy directing, producing and filming and has set sights on working outside the ski industry projects as well maintaining his involvement with the yearly ski film.