REWARDED

Rewarded goes live and a chat with the stars of the show Andre Paskowski and Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo

Following the highly emotional release of Magic Moments last week, which was created as a side project, comes the centerpiece of Andre Paskowski’s latest project RAW in the form of Rewarded. On the 8th October the trailer to Rewarded was released and the wait for the eagerly anticipated full version is finally over, as the windsurfing movie of the year is released.

Just like Magic Moments, Rewarded proves to be a hard hitting, emotional and inspiring movie as Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic / North) tells his incredible life story on film for the first time. Having just been crowned the PWA Freestyle World Champion for the fifth time, Rewarded shows exactly why the Venezuelan is the King of Freestyle as his mind-blowing repertoire of tricks are captured perfectly in another stunning piece of cinematography from Paskowski. However, for a change, it is not only Gollito’s outstanding performance on the water which steals the show as Rewarded shows a different side to the star from previous movies, whilst also offering exclusive features with his friends and family.

After producing another world class project the PWA took the opportunity to talk to the stars of the show, Andre and Gollito:

PWA: Andre, in Magic Moments you say that you think many people have the wrong idea about Gollito... Gollito do you agree? And was it important for you to be able to show people the “real” you and where you have come from?

Gollito: “I never think about that. I did not really look at all the forums like Andre. When Andre explained his Story Line to me. Then I like the idea and wanted to make the movie. It is time to show my life. From where I came and what I did. Andre found the right words and pictures and the outcome is really good - I think.”

PWA: Andre, does it give you strength and energy when you see how well received your movies are and how much people appreciate your efforts?

Andre: “Of course that’s one of the main reasons why I work with video. I want to express myself I always want to show topics which I see, which move me, which are in my mind and that’s what I like to convey to the viewer. To receive so much great feedback is like medicine. It gives power and it feels like other people see it the same way. I always try to prove myself and set bigger and better goals. I want my movie making to grow, by capturing better footage, better music and better edits. It is always a sort of a "Yes Andre, You are on a right path" when I receive all this great feedback. In the end I want to go to my non-windsurfing friends and say. "Hey lets watch this - this is cool".”

PWA: How does it feel to achieve your dream of having people all around the world knowing who you are?

Gollito: “It feels good. It does not make me feel I am special, but it shows that people watch my level and acknowledge my achievements.” 

Andre: “It always feels strange. At first people knew me because of windsurfing, contests results and coverage in magazines. But it was always strange to understand why someone would be interested in a signature from me. In the end I am just sailing and having fun.” “Now things have moved on and my name is now recognised for my movie making. It is great to provide diversity I believe. It’s nice to have a fan base, as it gives power and confidence. But thats it. I Don’t feel special just because people know me.”

Do each of you have a favourite part of the movie and if you do, which part and why?

Gollito: “The part I like most is the section in Venezuela. It was important to me that Paskowski showed me in my hometown. As for the moves maybe the most exciting was landing the Air Flaka Shaka so close to Andre´s camera in Venezuela.”

Andre: “To me it is when Gollito’s mum is speaking. Even after watching it many times it still touches me a lot. She spoke so purely and beautifully that it created a really emotional atmosphere while doing the interview. Yoli (De Brendt (Fanatic / North)) helped us but she turned speechless for a while :-).”

“Also Gollito’s interview is very very well done. Manuel Grafenauer (Fanatic / North) filmed the interview as we thought Gollito speaks more freely if I am not around. The way Gollito spoke really impressed me. I have never seen him speak that great and that deep into something. When Manu gave me the clip and I watched it, I felt really touched. The way the movie ends, with Gollito describing how lucky he was... that was probably the best sentence of the entire movie because... for a long time I asked myself "does Gollito understand how lucky he is? to have windsurfing and all the benefits from Windsurfing and to go deeper just from the El Yaque is a windy place?". And his very last sentence made me understand. Yes he did understand it and he handles it with care. That’s what I said to him a couple of times during our long friendship and the last words show me... He got it, he cares about it and that’s great.”

PWA: Gollito does the fifth PWA Freestyle World title mean as much to you as your first?

Gollito: “No the first one was still the most important one for me. The tension, the emotion and all was bigger and on top of that everything was unknown for me at that point. But this year for the first time I won all the events and all of the eliminations too. I have never done this before - it was not my goal but it surprised me.”

PWA: You both share a special “brother like” relationship with each other, has it always been like that or did the bond grow over time?

Gollito: “It all started in my house, El Yaque. Andre came for training lots of times. We started training together and we always sailed together and played little games. Like I try to copy his moves and he copied mine. Soon we started hanging out in the evenings and then came the events. When I started traveling more I always used Hamburg and Andre´s house as a base. That’s when we started to develop this brother like friendship. It grew more and more until today.”

PWA: Andre can you tell us how the scene in Fuerte was show when you are following Gollito at full speed? And were there any scenes which were really difficult to capture how you wanted them?

Andre: “That we did with a Jet Ski. It did not workout particularly well. We had the wrong tide, so we could only do it a couple of times on one single day, but 1 or 2 Shots came out great. Our new camera offers high speed and so each Jet Ski shot - which normally is shaky is self stabilized because we capture 10 times more frames as every other ordinary camera. I think the most fancy shots are the slow motion shots from out of the water. That’s what we focus on and it is really fun to do. And...no-one else can do it. The camera came out with limited availability just 3 days before I left for Fuerte. So obviously there was no water housing for it, this meant me and my dad started to build a housing with only 6 measurements and no real camera in hand - ever. If you know what that means - then this was freaking awesome. Building a housing with all controls and the right measurements for a zoom lens so it did not crop without having the cam, then receiving the cam put it inside and all worked. I was happy. That was a magic moment.”

Magic Moments highlights the fact that you have a real passion for movie making, Gollito how do you like being involved as well?

Gollito: “I did not know about the Magic Moments video before. I like it. I felt a little sad watching it at first. But is good to see Andre motivated and sailing almost like before.”

PWA: Thanks guys and we hope to see more amazing movies in the future:)

Amazingly this stunning piece of imagery is available for free. If you would like to see more movies like this in the future, and you think it deserves it, then there is a dedicated page for donations HERE. All donations are greatly appreciated, no matter how big or small.

To see this touching, inspiring and ultimately amazing new movie click here.