If you're new here, this is the deal: we will risk it all trying to be everywhere and do everything, all of the time. Honestly, it's reached quantum space-time travel levels at this point (can you tell we just rewatched Interstellar?).
But sometimes, we have to pick our battles and miss a moment—like the Tokyo Marathon this year. That's where our community shines. Xavi Portillo, a talented creative and athlete in The Program, reached out with a quick "Yo, do you guys need anyone to shoot the Tokyo Marathon this year? I'll be over there anyway."
The rest is history. Dive into Springtime Tokyo through Xavi Portillo's lens. Thank you, Xavi!
Before you dive into the art, learn about the artist below:
Xavi, introduce yourself, would ya?
My name is Xavi Portillo, I’m based in New York City and I am a director, cinematographer and founder of the run club Sombra Civilization. As a New York City native, the images I’ve created have always been immensely influenced by the city around me and my roots in skateboarding.
What was your creative process around shooting in Tokyo.
Creating in Tokyo as a born & raised New York is always an experience. It’s a world that’s completely foreign and opposite to what we know and yet the creative energy feels very similar to home. It was an exciting challenge, because ultimately it brought me back to the roots of my filmmaking. It was just me, my hands and a small camera. Luckily we had our friend’s at Panic Ball Productions to help us bridge and connect with BRICK by TOKYO (A new run club in Japan pushing running culture forward), create content, and guiding us through the streets of Tokyo on Marathon Day. Tokyo felt like some sort of miracle or divine luck.
How did you approach shooting in Tokyo differently than you approach other work?
This was actually quite challenging. I didn’t expect capturing a marathon to be as chaotic as it was. Japan is ruled oriented and culturally by the book. It’s quite opposite to New York where here it almost feels encouraged to be a bit of a rule breaker to capture the shot. My favorite moment of the marathon day was riding our bikes over an empty highway with Studio Ghibli scores playing in my headphones. It was a truly cinematic moment and one I’ll always cherish. It was these moments that bled into the magic of the images we were capturing, it all felt like a love letter to Tokyo and to our runners. I found that all of the streets of Tokyo to me as a foreigner were very beautiful. All of the images that were created in Tokyo were also edited and graded out there in real time. Safe to say there were many sleepless nights and late night 7-11 visits to fuel the creative process.
Coming off this work, what's another city you'd like to shoot in?
I’d love to shoot the Berlin Marathon next. Berlin was actually my first international solo trip and the first city I had ever traveled to in Europe. I’ve gone there a few times in my early 20’s and I’d love to re-experience it through running and the lens of who I am today. It was actually the Bandit X Berlin Braves Collaboration that actually put Bandit on my radar creatively. I’m an artist and an athlete, and that collaboration sparked an idea and paved a mental path for me. It showed me that there’s a world where you can intertwine artistry and athleticism. This in many ways is the same ethos that fuels the creative process of everything we create for the run club Sombra Civilization.
