Brooklyn, New York’s BAMcinematek has lined up one seriously deepcollections of skateboard filmmaking as they present Skateboarding Is Not A Crime. The 24-film series runs September 6-23, 2013 at The BAMcinematek and BAM Rose Cinemas. No one deconstructs what many of us take for granted like the New York art crowd and this festival is no different. Here’s an example:
The ultimate in counterculture coolness, “skating” has made an irresistibly sexy subject for movies thanks to its rebel-athlete superstars, SoCal slacker fashion, and jaw-dropping jumps, ollies, tricks, and stunts.
Right. That said, this collection of skateboarding film includes the classics from every era featuring The Devil’s Toy from 1966, Scott Dittrich’s Freestylin‘, Spike Jonze’s Yeah Right, and Hollywood classics like Thrashin’ and Gleaming The Cube. For the entire breakdown of all 24 films and a schedule of the screenings, follow the jump.
BAMcinématek presents Skateboarding Is Not a Crime, a 24-film tribute to the best of skateboarding in cinema, Sep 6—23 Opens with George Gage’s 1978 romp Skateboard with the director in person
The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor for BAMcinématek and BAM Rose Cinemas.
Brooklyn, NY/Aug 16, 2013—From Friday, September 6 through Monday, September 23,BAMcinématek presents Skateboarding Is Not a Crime, a 24-film tribute to the best of skateboarding in cinema, from the 1960s to the present. The ultimate in counterculture coolness, “skating” has made an irresistibly sexy subject for movies thanks to its rebel-athlete superstars, SoCal slacker fashion, and jaw-dropping jumps, ollies, tricks, and stunts.
Opening the series on Friday, September 6 is George Gage’s Skateboard (1978), following a lumpish loser (Allen Garfield, The Conversation) who comes up with an ill-advised scheme to manage an all-teen skateboarding team in order to settle his debts with his bookie. An awesomely retro ride through 70s skateboarding culture, Skateboard was written and produced by Miami Vice producer Dick Wolf and stars teen idol Leif Garrett (Alfred Hitchcock’s daughter plays his mom!) and Z-Boys great Tony Alva. Gage will appear in person for a Q&A following the screening.
Two of the earliest films in the series showcase the upright technique that dominated in the 60s. Skaterdater (1965—Sep 23), Noel Black’s freewheelingly shot, Cannes Palme d’Or-winning, dialogue-free puppy-love story (made with pre-adolescent members of Torrance, California’s Imperial Skateboard Club) is widely considered to be the first skateboard movie. Claude Jutra’s cinéma vérité lark The Devil’s Toy (1966—Sep 23), is narrated in faux-alarmist fashion, with kids whipping down the hills of Montreal, only to have their decks confiscated by the cops.
By the mid-1970s, skateboarding was in the midst of a revolution in style, spearheaded by young star Stacy Peralta. In Freewheelin’ (1976—Sep 7), Peralta is seen ripping up the Escondido reservoir, also a favorite site of Skateboarder magazine’s first Skateboarder of the Year, Tony Alva, featured in Gage’s Skateboard. Only a few years after Peralta and Alva broke through, skating became a big business—one that moviemakers were eager to capitalize on. In Thrashin’ (1986—Sep 7), a deliriously cornball fable, a young Josh Brolin in a Rebel Without a Cause windbreaker stars as the wholesome skater who moves to LA to compete in a tournament and finds himself in a star-crossed affair with the sister of the leader of rival punk skate crew the Daggers. In Gleaming the Cube (1989—Sep 8), freestyle innovator Rodney Mullen did all the tricks for star Christian Slater, who plays an LA skate rat trying to solve the murder of his adopted
brother.
Thrashin’ and Gleaming the Cube represent the adaptation of a then-novel youth culture to triedand-true pop entertainment templates. Meanwhile, the DIY skateboarding video—shot guerilla style in different cities, sold through local skate shops, and traded among enthusiasts—was on the rise. Spike Jonze, a freestyle BMX kid and skater himself, had the dexterity for the skate-and shoot style that would become standard. The prankish and wildly imaginative Yeah Right! (2003—Sep 16) is the apotheosis of Jonze’s innovative skate videos, made for his own Girl Skateboard Company. While shooting teenage skaters in Washington Square Park, photographer Larry Clark met a precocious 19-year-old kid named Harmony Korine and asked him to write the screenplay for what would become Clark’s directorial debut. Kids (1995—Sep 21) was one of the most talked-about movies of its day, a work of street-level reportage looking at the unchaperoned secret lives of Manhattan’s Dead End Kids, starring Chloe Sevigny in her film debut, alongside real-life skaters Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, and the Zoo York-sponsored Harold Hunter. (Jonze’s 1991 skate vid Video Days is briefly visible on a TV in the background). Grim tidings continue with Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park (2007—Sep 21), an adaptation of Blake Nelson’s young adult novel about a teenage skater who accidentally causes a security guard’s death. Gunslinger DP Christopher Doyle’s 8mm footage and the electronic score render the world of the skate park hypnotic.
While Clark and Van Sant’s films emphasize the disaffection and disenfranchisement of the half-orphans of skate culture, others play up its redemptive potential and its ability to foster a sense of self-worth. Using vintage footage and new interviews, Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001—Sep 14)—directed by original Z-Boy Peralta—tells the story of the Santa Monica surfer-kids-turned-skate-crew that revolutionized the sport with their aggressive new style, perfected in pools left empty by the California drought. Peralta later drew from these same experiences to write the screenplay for Lords of Dogtown (2005—Sep 22), a fictionalized retelling of the Z-Boys’ rise to fame, starring Heath Ledger and Emile Hirsch, and directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen), a specialist in adolescent psychology who’d begun her career doing production design on the set of Thrashin’.
The popularity of Dogtown and Z-Boys led to a bumper crop of skater docs, including Peralta’s own Bones Brigade: An Autobiography (2012—Sep 15), which captured the team of teenage future legends who rode for the Powell Peralta company in the 80s, including the ever-philosophized Mullen, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Lance Mountain, Mike McGill, and Tony Hawk. Covering the same arc of unprecedented Thrasher magazine fame and fortune, Helen Stickler tells a more troubling story in Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2002—Sep 8), the story of Mark “Gator” Rogowski, a half-pipe vert skater who catches major air before hitting hideous rock bottom.
While US skateboarding had its roots in suburban anomie and disobedience, Martin Persiel’s This Ain’t California (2012—Sep 13) documents an even stronger oppositional culture—the East German skateboarding scene—with vintage 8mm footage of kids carving up the Alexanderplatz and Brutalist concrete of Berlin. Further testififying to the sport’s international popularity, fictional films Tilva Roš (2010—Sep 20) and Wasted Youth (2011—Sep 20) feature skate kids in contemporary Serbia and Athens, respectively.
And skateboarding continues to seek out new frontiers. Waiting for Lightning (2012—Sep 15) chronicles the build-up to daredevil Danny Way’s 2005 jump over the Great Wall of China, while The Motivation (2013—Sep 14), which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, follows eight premier skaters, including champs Nyjah Huston and Paul Rodriguez, in preparation for the Street League Championship world tour. This breakaway series from the X-Games was founded in 2010 as an attempt to shake up the status quo in pro skating—a sport that, in its eternal search for speed and the right lines, has never stayed in one place for long.
Film Schedule
Fri, Sep 6
7*, 9:45pm: Skateboard
*Q&A with George Gage
Sat, Sep 7
2, 7pm: Thrashin’
4:30, 9:30pm: Freewheelin’
Sun, Sep 8
2, 7pm: Gleaming the Cube
4:30, 9:30pm: Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator
Fri, Sep 13
2, 7pm: This Ain’t California
4:30, 9:30pm: Dragonslayer
Sat, Sep 14
2, 7pm: Dogtown and Z-Boys
4:30, 9:30pm: The Motivation
Sun, Sep 15
2, 7pm: Bones Brigade: An Autobiography
4:30, 9:30pm: Waiting for Lightning
Mon, Sep 16
7, 9:15pm: Yeah Right! + “100%” music video
Fri, Sep 20
2, 7pm: Tilva Roš
4:30, 9:30pm: Wasted Youth
Sat, Sep 21
2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Kids + Apple Juice
Sun, Sep 22
2, 7pm: Paranoid Park
4:30, 9:30pm: Lords of Dogtown
Mon, Sep 23
7pm: The Devil’s Toy + Skaterdater + Fruit of the Vine 9:15pm: Shredder Orpheus
Film Descriptions
Bones Brigade: An Autobiography (2012) 90min
Directed by Stacy Peralta.
The follow-up to Peralta’s Dogtown and Z-Boys picks up where that touchstone documentary left off. This
time around he revisits the superstar team of teenage skateboarders he assembled in the 80s known as
the Bones Brigade—including greats like Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, and Tommy Guerrero. A
surprisingly poignant look at a ragtag family of sorts, it chronicles an essential moment in skating’s history
with raw and revealing frankness. HDCAM.
Sun, Sep 15 at 2, 7pm
The Devil’s Toy (1966) 15min
Directed by Claude Jutra.
This strikingly lensed, satirical documentary describes—with cheeky faux alarm—the birth of Montreal’s
skateboarding culture. HDCAM.
+
Skaterdater (1965) 18minDirected by Noel Black.
Noel Black’s (Pretty Poison) Cannes prize-winning short is the first skateboarding movie. It’s the story of a
young skater’s first crush set to a surf rock soundtrack. 35mm.
+
Fruit of the Vine (1999) 53min
Directed by Coan Nichols & Rick Charnoski.
Shot on Super-8, this ode to the daredevils who skate empty swimming pools is “a seminal work of
scraped knees, bruised elbows and big air” (Rolling Stone). BetaSP.
Mon, Sep 23 at 7pm
Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001) 91min
Directed by Stacy Peralta.
This “enormously enjoyable, high-adrenaline documentary” (Manohla Dargis, LA Weekly) traces the
history of the Z-Boys from their origins skating empty swimming pools in gritty 70s Santa Monica (aka
“Dogtown”) to their ascent as the ultimate in counterculture cool to their difficulties navigating the pitfalls
of success. Wittily narrated by Sean Penn and directed with verve by Z-Boy Stacy Peralta himself, this
gold standard of skating movies is Hoop Dreams for skate rats. 35mm.
Dragonslayer (2011) 74min
Directed by Tristan Patterson.
An affecting portrait of affable and aimless 20-something Josh “Skreech” Sandoval, drifting through life on
the decaying fringes of the northern California suburbs. A pro skateboarder and estranged father with little
to his name, Josh’s world is one of humdrum contentment, a series of dilapidated swimming-poolsturned-skate parks, road trips to nowhere with his girlfriend, and the occasional booze and bowl. Images
of stagnant suburbia and liminal spaces, baked in the summer sun, lend a palpable sense of inertia to this
touching snapshot of disaffected youth creating meaning and happiness amid uncertainty. Official
selection BAMcinemaFest 2011. HDCAM.
Fri, Sep 13 at 4:30, 9:30pm
Freewheelin’ (1976) 80min
Directed by Scott Dittrich.
One of the earliest records of skateboarding culture, this pioneering pseudo-documentary captures future
icons Stacy Peralta and Tom Sims at the very birth of the sport. With footage of a young Peralta skating
the Escondido Reservoir, the legendary Baldy Pipeline, and a now rare slalom race, Freewheelin’ is an
essential document of skateboarding’s early years. 35mm.
Sat, Sep 7 at 4:30, 9:30pm
Gleaming the Cube (1989) 100min
Directed by Graeme Clifford. With Christian Slater.
In this skatesploitation classic (its title is skater patois for “reaching the ultimate”), skate rat rebel Brian
(Slater), “wearing a remarkable hairdo achieved with mousse, bleach and perhaps electricity” (The New
York Times) delves into Orange County’s seedy underbelly to avenge his adopted brother’s murder—all
of which is really just a pretext for the seriously cool stunts and slick skateboard chases. 35mm.
Sun, Sep 8 at 2, 7pm
Kids (1995) 91min
Dir. Larry Clark. With Chloe Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Rosario Dawson.
This Harmony Korine-penned journey through lower Manhattan follows a group of pubescent minors experimenting with sex and an endless supply of illegal substances. One of the most controversial films of the 1990s, it was praised upon its release as “frightening, frank and serious, a wake-up call to the world”(The New York Times). 35mm.
Sat, Sep 21 at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm Screens with the Skate NYC relic Apple Juice (1990), directed by
John Bruce.
Lords of Dogtown (2005) 107min
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke. With Emile Hirsch, Victor Rasuk, Heath Ledger, John Robinson. Venice Beach, 1975: blonde, disaffected teens Tony Alva (Rasuk), Jay Adams (Hirsch), and Stacy Peralta (Robinson) go from wayward beach bums to counterculture icons with the help of surfer-dude impresario Skip Engblom (Ledger), who organizes them into the pivotal skateboarding phenoms the ZBoys. Based on Peralta’s own definitive doc Dogtown and Z-Boys, this gritty biopic captures the visceral, scorched-pavement thrill of the ride. 35mm.
Sun, Sep 22 at 4:30, 9:30pm
The Motivation (2013) 91min
Directed by Adam Bhala Lough.
Eight top skateboarders prepare for New York City’s prestigious Street League Championship and the
title of the best street skateboarder in the world. This up-close-and-personal documentary follows skating
stars Ryan Sheckler, Paul Rodriguez, Nyjah Huston, and others as they contend with personal demons,
injuries, and the pressures of fame—all of which they must overcome in order to tackle the competition’s
ultra-imposing arena-sized skate park. HDCAM.
Sat, Sep 14 at 4:30, 9:30pm
Paranoid Park (2007) 85min
Directed by Gus Van Sant.
Van Sant further develops the atmospheric style of his recent “death trilogy” while capturing the energy of
his early films like Drugstore Cowboy in this tale about a teenage skateboarder who accidentally causes
the death of a security guard and keeps the incident to himself. Rather than follow a standard murder plot,
Van Sant and his awesome cinematographer Christopher Doyle evoke the psyche of their young
protagonist, revealing his thoughts, memories, and fears and the solace he finds by slicing through the air
on his skateboard. 35mm.
Sun, Sep 22 at 2, 7pm
Shredder Orpheus (1990) 93min
Directed by Robert McGinley. With Robert McGinley, Megan Murphy.
“They’re shredding their way to Hell!” The Greek myth gets reworked as a post-apocalyptic skateboard
rock opera in this ultra-camp, ultra-big hair, laughably low-budget oddity. Rockstar Orpheus (McGinley)
descends into the underworld armed with a skateboard and a futuristic guitar to save the world from mindcontrolling television signals. This gonzo rarity was originally released by the now-cult VHS-only Action
International Pictures. 35mm.
Mon, Sep 23 at 9:15pm
Skateboard (1978) 97min
Directed by George Gage. With Allen Garfield, Leif Garrett, Tony Alva.
Desperate to cough up the money he owes his bookie, lumpish loser Manny (Garfield) comes up with an
arguably ill-advised scheme: managing an all-teen skateboarding team. This awesomely retro (check the
vintage track suits and grungy exploitation feel) ride through 70s skateboarding culture stars teen idol Leif
Garrett (Alfred Hitchcock’s daughter plays his mom!) and Z-Boys great Tony Alva. Produced and written
by Miami Vice producer Dick Wolf. 35mm.
Fri, Sep 6 at 7*, 9:45pm *Q&A with George Gage
Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2002) 82min
Directed by Helen Stickler.
The dark side of skateboarding’s commercialization is explored via the harrowing story of vertical skater
Mark “Gator” Rogowski. Riding a wave of popularity in the 80s to lucrative megastardom—only to be
chewed up and spat out by the corporate sponsors that created him—Gator ended up behind bars for
rape and murder. This “exhilarating and terrifying journey through youth-culture hell” (Chicago Reader)
asks troubling questions about the commodification of cool. 35mm.
Sun, Sep 8 at 4:30, 9:30pm
Thrashin’ (1986) 93min
Directed by David Winters. With Josh Brolin, Robert Rusler. It’s West Side Story on wheels as LA prepsters the Ramp Locals (led by Josh Brolin) try to outskate rival punk rock boarder gang the Daggers in this vintage piece of 80s cheese. The adrenaline-fueled skating sequences (including a climactic POV race) feature the likes of Tony Alva, Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi, and Steve Caballero. Look for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in a rare pre-superstardom appearance. 35mm.
Sat, Sep 7 at 2, 7pm
This Ain’t California (2012) 90min
Directed by Marten Persiel.
This bold, punk rock-inflected documentary-fiction hybrid uses Super-8 film, archival footage, animation,
and reenactments to tell the vivid story of the East German skateboarding subculture that you never knew
existed. Depicting skateboarding as a form of spirited rebellion (the GDR labeled it a “risk to domestic
order”), This Ain’t California is “an engaging, scrupulously formed look at alternative lifestyles in the wake
of political and social duress” (Slant Magazine). HDCAM
Fri, Sep 13 at 2, 7pm
Tilva Roš (2010) 99min
Directed by Nikola Ležaić. With Marko Todorović, Stefan Đorđević.
Serbian slacker skaters Toda (Todorović) and Stefan (Đorđević) spend a final summer before college
hanging around an abandoned strip mine, filming Jackass-style stunt videos and making plays for the
same girl. Recalling the offbeat poetic style of American indie auteurs like Harmony Korine and Gus Van
Sant, Tilva Roš is an elliptical coming-of-age tale that locates unexpected beauty in its barren, industryscarred landscapes. HDCAM
Fri, Sep 20 at 2, 7pm
Waiting for Lightning (2012) 87min
Directed by Jacob Rosenberg.
Daredevil skater Danny Way’s quest to jump the ultimate obstacle—the Great Wall of China—is the focus
of this awe-inspiring doc full of colorful interviews and vivid action. A troubled child who found redemption
in skateboarding, Waiting for Lightning fills in the backstory behind Way’s superhero stunt—captured here
in all its gravity-defying glory. DCP.
Sun, Sep 15 at 4:30, 9:30pm
Wasted Youth (2011) 122min
Directed by Argyris Papadimitropoulos & Jan Vogel. With Haris Markou, Ieronymos Kaletsanos.
Over the course of a sweltering summer day in Athens, Greece, 16-year-old punk Harris (Markou) wastes time skateboarding and partying. Meanwhile, middle-aged Vasilis (Kaletsanos) is undergoing a mid-life crisis brought on by a demanding job and an exhausting home life. Pulsing just beneath the surface of these dual stories is Greece’s increasingly turbulent economic reality as this “lush, evocative, impressively shot” (Screen Daily) portrait of a city in turmoil builds towards a fateful climax. 35mm.
Fri, Sep 20 at 4:30, 9:30pm
Yeah Right! (2003) 74min
Directed by Spike Jonze.
With trademark verve and visual inventiveness, Jonze captures skateboarding culture in this video,
featuring the Girl Skateboards team, an Owen Wilson cameo, and a killer soundtrack. Rolling Stone
praised: “Only the twisted imagination of Jonze could have come up with Yeah Right!’s many cool
touches. In itself, a super slo-mo close-up of a double kick flip is a sight to see, but watching a 50-foot
ollie across a street should get you scratching your head.” DCP.
Mon, Sep 16 at 7, 9:15pm Screens with Jonze and Tamra Davis’ music video for Sonic Youth’s “100%”
(1992).
About BAMcinématek
The four-screen BAM Rose Cinemas (BRC) opened in 1998 to offer Brooklyn audiences alternative and independent films that might not play in the borough otherwise, making BAM the only performing arts center in the country with two mainstage theaters and a multiplex cinema. In July 1999, beginning with a series celebrating the work of Spike Lee, BAMcinématek was born as Brooklyn’s only daily, year-round repertory film program. BAMcinématek presents new and rarely seen contemporary films, classics, work by local artists, and festivals of films from around the world, often with special appearances by directors, actors, and other guests. BAMcinématek has not only presented major retrospectives by major filmmakers such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Manoel de Oliveira, Shohei Imamura, Vincente Minnelli (winning a National Film Critics’ Circle Award prize for the retrospective), Kaneto Shindo, Luchino Visconti, and William Friedkin, but it has also introduced New York audiences to contemporary artists such as Pedro Costa and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. In addition, BAMcinématek programmed the first US retrospectives of directors Arnaud Desplechin, Nicolas Winding Refn, Hong Sang-soo, and, most recently, Andrzej Zulawski. From 2006 to 2008, BAMcinématek partnered with the Sundance Institute and in June 2009 launched BAMcinemaFest, a 16-day festival of new independent films and repertory favorites with 15 NY feature film premieres; the fifth annual BAMcinemaFest ran from June 19—28, 2013.
Credits
The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor of BAM Rose Cinemas and BAMcinématek.
Steinberg Screen at the BAM Harvey Theater is made possible by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable
Trust.
Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM.
Brooklyn Brewery is the preferred beer of BAMcinématek.
BAM Rose Cinemas are named in recognition of a major gift in honor of Jonathan F.P. and Diana Calthorpe Rose.
BAM Rose Cinemas would also like to acknowledge the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The
Estate of Richard B. Fisher, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City
Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Bloomberg, and Time
Warner Inc. Additional support for BAMcinématek is provided by the Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation, The
Grodzins Fund, The Liman Foundation and Summit Rock Advisors.
Special thanks to George Gage; Robert McGinley; Brian Block/Criterion Pictures; Joe Reid/20th Century Fox; Chris
Chouinard/Park Circus; Sebastian del Castillo/American Genre Film Archive; Chris Lane & Michael Horne/Sony
Pictures Repertory; John Baker; Michael Piaker/Sony Pictures Classics; Sean McDonnell/IDP Distribution; Larry
Clark; Ed Lachman; Justin DiPietro/IFC Films; Helen Stickler; Adam Bhala Lough; Giorgos Karnavas/Elephant Eye
Films; Aida LiPera/Visit Films; Kelci Parker/ Girl Skateboards; Stacy Peralta; Coan Nichols; Bret Berg/Cinefamily;
Jane Guttridge/ National Film Board of Canada; John Bruce; Film Sales Company.
General Information
Tickets: General Admission: $13
BAM Cinema Club Members: $8, BAM Cinema Club Movie Moguls: Free
Seniors & Students (25 and under with a valid ID, Mon—Thu): $9
Bargain matinees (Mon—Thu before 5pm & Fri—Sun before 3pm, no holidays): $9
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at
30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM
Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell
Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the
newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio.
BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory
programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera
House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé
Live on select Friday and Saturday nights with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 8pm.
Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater)
D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue
Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center
Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM
Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM
For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.
