Take Flight

Today is David Belle’s birthday. Without David’s passion, direction, and example the discipline of Parkour would not be in existence today and influencing so many people. At Take Flight all of us owe much of who we are and what we do to him, and with that we extend our heartfelt thanks and our warmest wishes to David on this exciting day.

Joyeux Anniversaire David !

After more than a year in anticipation, Banlieue 13 – Ultimatum starring David Belle officially releases on DVD today! As the eye popping sequel to the instant classic District B13 (aka B13), the sequel takes the original film to new heights with new stunts, amazing action, breathtaking Parkour sequences, and a new level of athleticism from David, Cyril, and a supporting cast, crew, and stunt team.

For the convenience of our customers we have had the Banlieue 13 – Ultimatum DVD in our store available for pre-order for the past few weeks. All orders placed before today have now been mailed out with free priority shipping. If you haven’t ordered your copy yet these is still time to get it before the weekend. Copies of B13U are only $19.95. Get yours today!

District 13 Ultimatum (B13U) is coming to DVD! Starring David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli, B13U was the most highly anticipated Parkour film ever made when it released in February 2009 in Europe. Since then the film has debuted around the world and is finally being released on DVD in the United States. In accordance with the exciting release we have worked hard to make sure our customers can be the first to own the DVD.

At Take Flight we have always been and always will be huge supporters and promoters of Parkour films and projects involving David Belle. Banlieue 13 and B13 Ultimatum are the top two on both of these lists. Fortunately we have some strong relationships with various companies that allow us to sell products from these movies that others can’t. This is true in the case of our posters, and it is now true with the B13U DVD. Even though the movie doesn’t release until April 27^th, we have it in our store for pre-order purchase for Traceurs worldwide!

District 13 Ultimatum officially releases on DVD on April 27^th, and you can pre-order it now through our store for only $19.95. All orders placed for the DVD will be shipped ‘rush’ on this date, and all pre-orders will receive FREE shipping. Now is your chance to be, not one of the first but, THE first to own District 13 Ultimatum on DVD. Don’t miss out. Take advantage of this special opportunity and pre-order B13U now!

Everyone loves posters. Whether it’s a poster of an exotic island location, a celebrity, sports star, or musician, or any myriad of hobbies specific images such as sports cars, sailboats, or even girls the list is endless of what posters people will put on their walls. The one commonality is that most people have posters in their homes. Why most people do this, and we are no exception, is to remind ourselves of what we look up to and what we strive to reach or attain in one way or another. At Take Flight we wanted to bring this same experience to Traceurs around the globe in a Parkour specific fashion. We have worked hard and are proud to announce that we officially have brought the very first authentic Parkour posters to the Parkour community.

A few weeks ago we reached a special agreement with various parties that has allowed us to bring two products to our site that are exclusive to the Take Flight store. The products are official 27”x40” District B13 and District 13 Ultimatum movie posters! Both posters are displayed here in this post and are linked to their actual product location where you can purchase them. We have searched long and hard and we know for sure that you won’t find these posters anywhere else online or in stores. Only a few hundred of each of these posters were ever printed and these are extremely rare pieces of Hollywood merchandise and Parkour history.

If you loved District B13 and its sequel District 13 Ultimatum, these are the perfect compliments to your DVD and Parkour clothing collection. In brilliant detail these posters which feature David Belle are constant reminders of what Parkour is, where it came from, and what we strive to reach at Traceurs. We only have a limited supply of these posters available, and at only $29.95 they will only be up for sale for so long before they are all snatched up by Parkour enthusiast and collectors. Take this opportunity to get one, or both, for yourself now. These are a hot item, and they are sure to run out soon!

We have had the product available in our store for a few weeks now, and we wanted to make sure we announced it on our blog. Through the Take Flight store you can now purchase DVDs of District B13 starring David Belle.

District B13 really needs no introduction or explanation. The brief synopsis of the film on IMDB says, “Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.” The one word that this synopsis left out? Parkour. Starring the founder of Parkour himself, David Belle, B13 literally changed movies forever via its use of Parkour. The action chase sequences in the film have raised the bar for realistic action in a film and as a consequence have also since been a large contributor to the expansion and growth of Parkour around the world. Since the movie’s release in 2004 the film has become a cult film in the Parkour community and is by far the most highly revered and respected Parkour related movie ever made.

Every Traceur owes it to himself/herself to own a copy District B13 (Banlieue 13). With the DVD now in our store, getting your hands on it is literally just a few clicks away.

We have recently introduced a new navigation bar on our site! This implementation has been a few months in the making and is predicated on our Parkour apparel line, our growing selection of Parkour gear, our athlete sponsorships, our partners, and the Take Flight social network.

Previously we had four menu choices for our menu. One for the home page, one for apparel, one for the About Us page, and one for our Contact page. With a wider variety of products, a growing number of sponsored athletes, and a constantly growing site, a more comprehensive navigation bar was a must.

Our new navigation bar is now in place and it has 6 main categories which we feel better represent the totality of our site. These categories include Home, David Belle, Apparel, Gear, Athletes, and Contact. Each of these categories (minus the Home option) has further drop-down options that will give you quick easy access to the subcategories on our site as well as links to outside sources such as the Take Flight Facebook Fan Page and David Belle’s official website.

We hope this new navigation bar provides one more resource to help you navigate the Take Flight site. For us it was months in the making, but still only a small reflection of our dedication to our customers and fans and our continued pursuit of constantly improving our site and products.

Some people choose the easiest path through life; David Belle prefers to take the most interesting. As the world’s premier exponent of Parkour, a physical discipline of movement that’s as much a philosophy as it is a sport, Belle has carved a career out of taking the unconventional route.

The freeform method of getting around is based on techniques developed at the turn of the last century by a French navel officer called Georges Hébert. Belle’s father picked up the baton laid down by Hébert, building upon his techniques while serving in the French military. The passion for the physical discipline-cum-artform was then passed down from father to son. The latter helped brand l’art du déplacement (or art of movement) with its popular name, bringing “Parkour” to the awareness of the mainstream through gravity defying appearances on TV and film. Thrusting Parkour further into the popular psyche, Belle’s stunts have also been showcased on TV commercials for companies such as Nike, Vittel and the BBC that have since gone viral throughout the net.

In 2004 Belle starred in District 13, a French language action movie co-written and co-produced by Luc Besson (who was responsible for the 1997 sci-fi classic The Fifth Element). District 13 was set in the near future in a fictionalized dystopian suburb of Paris, and was the first major film to feature Parkour-inspired action sequences. Belle reprised his role as the gang-busting Leïto in a sequel, District 13: Ultimatum, which was released in Europe last year. Featuring spectacular rooftop chase sequences that should thrill action fans, the film is finally getting a North American theatrical release on Friday, February 5.

We called Belle up at his home in Corbeil-Essonnes, in the southern suburbs of Paris to find out more. With the help of a translator, we spoke about the new movie, the stunts it features, the origins of Parkour and where it’s taking him now.

Nicole Powers: This is the second movie in the District 13 franchise. How did it come about?

David Belle: Luc Besson called me to see if I was interested in doing a follow up adventure. As far as I was concerned there were no problems at all.

NP: The screenplay was written by Luc Besson, who also wrote The Fifth Element and The Transporter. What did you like about this particular script?

DB: I liked the storyline in general. I thought it was a good action film. The character is a little like me, not in everything, but I felt pretty close to that character, and I was willing to embark on this adventure.

NP: Obviously it’s an action-based film. Did you work with Besson in the construction of the action scenes at the writing stage or was it more of a case of collaborating with the film’s director, Patrick Alessandrin, at the point when you were preparing to shoot?

DB: As a matter of fact when Luc writes the action he doesn’t write that much detail. He leaves us some room for maneuver and he allows us to make some proposals on the action. Then he picks what the best solution is and we move forward like that.

NP: Which was the hardest scene to shoot?

DB: The whole shooting was difficult. Keep in mind we were in top form so in the beginning you do one of these stunts and it’s pretty easy. You do the scouting of these scenes and you say, “Ah, that’s going to be easy,” and you say, “I’m going to do this during the shooting.” Then it turns out that something that was initially anticipated as something that was going to be easy turns out to be quite difficult. You’ve got to be very careful because at the end of the shoot you’re exhausted. But we’re under the same amount of pressure throughout the whole shoot, however, I should say, since we rehearsed in advance there weren’t as many problems as one might have expected.

NP: I guess the issue of physical tiredness is compounded if you have to do multiple takes.

DB: Well yes, that is true. I should add that we tried to spare our forces, save our energy, as much as possible. When we had a stunt scene, we would rehearse the scene two or three times in advance — everything but the stunt itself. Then we would do the shooting in just one take. We would rehearse it two or three times, when we were all psyched and we were ready, we would hit it and we would just do it. That was our policy for stunts which were really dangerous.

NP: Were there any injuries on set?

DB: I injured my lower arm. We were doing a chase scene in the Gypsy Quarter and there was a police car chasing me. So I’m running and I made a sudden turn and my arm got caught on a doorknob. The doorknob went into my arm. I needed five stitches. The doctor told me I had to rest for a week, but the next day it seemed like the stitches were holding so we started on the roof again.

The thing is, that door was supposed to be closed, but someone has left it half open. So when I was running, just like you might get your bag caught on something that’s sticking out, that’s what happened with my arm.

NP: Where were the rooftop scenes shot?

DB: On the roofs of Serbia.

NP: Were there any wires or other safety equipment used in those scenes?

DB: There were certain scenes, the scenes that were truly dangerous. Sometimes we had a cable, sometime we had a safety net, because sometimes we would have to rehearse or shoot a scene a couple of times until we got it right. With fatigue setting in you just don’t know how you might react, and you’re 20 meters up in the air, so sometimes we would shoot with a safety net. But generally speaking, we were free, our movements were free.

NP: The way the action scenes are cut together to pumping techno music, they very much have the feel of a music video. Were you happy with the way everything turned out?

DB: Generally speaking I like the film. As far as the music’s concerned, if I’m watching the film and I don’t like the music I just turn off the sound and put on a music track that I like. But I would have to say I generally like the music. It really meshes well with the pace of the film I believe.

NP: Going back to how you first started Parkour, I know you had military and martial arts training, but how did a type of movement you used to run across town become something that you realized was a stylized thing of its self, something you could make a career out of?

DB: Of course, I was very active in sports when I was small, but it was because of my father that I discovered Parkour. It was he who transmitted to me this art though his experience in the army and later as a fireman. He had worked on his own physical conditioning and I realized that the movement has a useful side to it. That you can move around to help people, to aid people, and not just to be an artist or to perform acrobatic tricks. There’s a more profound side to Parkour.

NP: With Parkour there also seems to be a connection to your inner child. If you look at the way a child walks along a pavement, the last thing they want to do is walk in a straight line. They want to jump across cracks in the pavement or play stepping stones, and if there’s something to jump up on, instinctively they’ll want to jump up on it. Parkour seems to be very much about getting in touch with your inner child and taking the interesting way, rather than the easiest route.

DB: I think you summed it up in a nutshell. That’s what it is exactly. That’s the first time anybody has given me the proper definition of Parkour. Bravo Nicole!

NP: Merci beaucoup! How has it changed since you started doing it? How has the art progressed?

DB: It’s sort of like life. Initially the obstacles aren’t too high, and as you gradually gain increasing self-assurance and greater amounts of confidence the obstacles are higher, and when you fall it hurts more. So you learn through good technique not to take stupid risks. I didn’t ever want to give the impression that practicing this movement is crazy. I wanted to show that there’s a method that allows you to overcome obstacles, to navigate obstacles without taking major risks.

NP: What do you do to train on a daily basis?

DB: I’ve worked on the foundations so much, it’s similar to martial arts. When you practice a jump thousands of times for eight hours a day straight, your body develops a memory of it. You don’t have to be practicing that everyday from a 20 meter high rooftop. The question for me now is to maintain this physical conditioning. Now I train less. I do it more by feeling. I don’t have the same perspective anymore. My goal is to last vis-à-vis my age. I want to make sure that whatever my age is I feel good inside my body, and that I don’t have the impression of destroying myself.

NP: Right, you don’t want to over-train.

DB: That’s right. I don’t think it’s worthwhile. It’s not worth it to over-train. You know, we all have a certain lifespan. It’s not like we’re going to live 150 or 200 years and I could say, alright, I have 50 years to progress. Life goes by and it’s full of things to do, and I don’t want to get stagnated and be like an old karate professor who’s 70-years old and keeps repeating the same movement. Today I do Parkour, tomorrow I might play the piano, maybe the next day I might go fishing. I don’t want to feel anchored. I want to continue to move, and of course I want to continue to practice my sport. But I’m trying to listen to my body and I try to always be interested in other things. I don’t want to deprive myself of those other things just for the sake of Parkour.

NP: I guess part of that goes back to maintaining the enjoyment by nurturing your inner child. It’s something that gets forgotten as we get older, but it’s important and intrinsic to the discipline too.

DB: Well you know I think everyone has a trigger in their lives and that’s what Parkour was for me. It’s like someone who plays music as a kid, and then, through music, discovers art in general, and beauty. He may not play music [anymore] but he may go on to other things, but the trigger, the detonating influence was music. Well that’s what Parkour was for me. We all have something that when we’re young we discover, and that something will lead us to a world of other discoveries. That’s what Parkour has done for me. .

NP: So can you see yourself down the line taking acting roles where the physicality is less important? Perhaps even roles that don’t requite Parkour?

DB: Well if movies give me that opportunity, I would take it up with the greatest of pleasure.

NP: Finally, I know you originally took up Parkour with very practical, perhaps even lifesaving applications in mind. Are you doing anything to teach the next generation this skill and the practical applications too?

DB: You’re completely right, we’re already working with the firemen of Paris imparting Parkour techniques, and we’ve set up a program with the city council of Lisses to set up a place where soldiers, policemen, young people — anybody engaged in high risk professions — can come and get training. It’s not enough to just train in a gym. There we can move around a bit. We really can’t explain the sport in such situations, so these special places we’re setting up are much better for that.

NP: Thank you for taking the time out to chat, and good luck with the movie in America.

DB: Merci Nicole.

District 13: Ultimatum opens on limited release in theaters on Friday, February 5. You can also find it on VOD, Amazon, and XBOX Live.

Banlieue 13 Ultimatum was released in U.S. theaters today! We couldn’t be more excited for he U.S. Parkour community as a whole for this film’s debut and of course for ourselves here at Take Flight because we get to watch it too!

Banlieue 13 Ultimatum (aka District 13 Ultimatum – U.S. Title-) has been out in Europe since February of 2009, and is finally now on the big screen in America. Now that the movie is out you simply have to go and see it! This movie is only the second time David Belle has graced the presence of a theatrical release in the United States as a star of the film. And if the guns, explosions, fight sequences, and chase scenes aren’t enough to keep you strapped to your seat for the duration, David’s athleticism, talent, and fearless performance most definitely will. The film is on limited release so we recommend going to the following Fandango link to find a theater that is playing it near you.

http://www.fandango.com/district13:ultimatum_128558/movietimes?date

Don’t miss this rare chance to see David Belle on the big screen in Banlieue 13 Ultimatum. Even though the film is now playing in U.S. theaters, we don’t know how long it will continue playing! So take the day off, spend a night out, or do whatever you have to do to get to the theater and watch this film. It’ll be one of the most exciting and adrenaline packed movies you’ll go to all year.

We are very excited to announce that we are now selling official movie posters from David Belle’s films including posters from Banlieue 13 and Banlieue 13 Ultimatum! Late last night we released two posters on our site with more to come.

The two posters we released are original movie posters from District B13 (also known by it’s French title Banlieue 13) and Banlieue 13 Ultimatum (also know by it’s English title District 13 Ultimatum). Both posters are manufactured on high quality card stock and are 11”x17” in size (approx. 28cmx43cm). This sizing includes a one inch white border around the artwork. Both posters feature David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli who are the co-stars in the films.

These posters are official movie posters from the films, and with Banlieue 13 Ultimatum releasing in U.S. theaters tomorrow this poster release in just in time! Now you can  be one of the first to own a piece of Parkour history through these movies. They are incredibly priced only $19.95 each so buy one today!

We have already mentioned it twice on the Take Flight Facebook page, but this will be the first time we have written about it here: Banlieue 13 Ultimatum starring David Belle, the sequel to the iconic and pioneering Banlieue 13 released in 2004, is set to release in the U.S. in less than a month! Initially released in France on February 18, 2009, the movie has premiered in countries around the world and is now set to debut in the U.S on February 5^th.

We have never been more excited for a film’s release! To see David return to the big screen with co-star Cyril Raffaelli in a story written by the internationally acclaimed director and producer Luc Besson, is so momentous an occasion that we have decided to dedicate the entire month to the film. For the next 29 days we will be posting daily looks at the film, including pictures, videos, and interviews, on our Facebook fan page for our followers to watch, discuss, and share.

Banlieue 13 is considered to be the greatest Parkour film of all time. Setting a new precedent for athleticism and true to life action within the creative capabilities of film making, the sequel Banlieue 13 Ultimatum is sure to be a continuation of what was started in the original. We hope you join us in getting amped for this film’s release, and most importantly, set the day aside in your schedule to go see the film when it is finally unveiled on February 5^th.