What is the Skateboard Film Festival?
The Skateboard Film Festival (TSFF) is a collaborative effort by a group of skateboarders who are seeking to provide a platform for skaters around the world to showcase their film-making talents. In a nutshell, it’s a three day event in Seattle, WA which will hopefully become the film festival for skateboarders around the world. Like most Film Festivals, it’s essentially a competition of sorts. There are several categories that skateboarders can submit in: Sponsor Me, Feature Film, Creative Short, International, Documentary and a special Wild Card category. During the film festival weekend, we will be screening the top contenders in each category at SIFF Cinema at Seattle Center (right next door to the future Seattle Skate Plaza which is scheduled to be completed in June 2009). You can count on other activities throughout the weekend like skate jams all over the city, evening parties, and a specially planned “Final Cut Pro Battle”.
What's the background and idea behind it?
Basically my friend Kirk pitched the idea to me a couple of years ago. I thought it was a rad idea but we shelved it to work on other projects at the time. Then, last summer I really began to think about the possibility of doing it – but I wanted it to be done properly. This we agreed, would mean that we’d need to assemble a group of skaters with connections, entrepreneurial spirit, shared compassion for skateboarding and community, and a genuine love for skateboard videos, editing and film-making. We have a good friend of mine at Nike SB who designs shoes, we have a filmer for Flip Skateboards, we have two skateshop owners, the list goes on…
Its goal is two fold: to bring the skateboarding community together and provide a platform for the future Ty Evans’ out there to showcase their creativity behind the lens.
Who are some of the contributors, and what sort of films can be seen?
Anticipated films range from people that no one has heard of, to guys like Brian Lotti and Bob Kronbauer. We hope to show films in the above mentioned seven categories. I think what’s going to make this special is that it’s open to everyone. Watching a kid like Ritchie Jackson on YouTube a few years ago was rad (when no one heard of him). How cool would it be to see a sponsor me video like that for the first time in a theater? The same goes for a documentary like Little Giants, Volume One: Don Pendleton. It’s really exciting to think about actually. I can’t wait.
Is there a market for a film festival 100% evolved around skateboarding?
I think so. Skateboarders share a common respect and understanding for one another. It just makes sense to have something like this. There’s certain creative streak that runs through skateboard culture. Skateboarders value film-making and editing almost as much as the actual skateboarding nowadays. I mean, there are a lot of video nerds out there who geek out on equipment and they take angles at which lines are shot at very seriously. It’s great. They’re who we want getting excited about this festival too!
Again, it’s all the events outside of the actual theater that are going to make this special. Have you ever heard of a “Final Cut Pro Battle?” It’s going to be crazy.
How can our readers be a part of it?
What we’re trying to do is just stress to everyone out there that this is for everyone. I think the entire skate community will catch on to this when they see the sorts of submissions we’ve been getting. We also don’t want the average skateboarder to get intimidated by this festival. Again, it’s for everyone. If you have a “Sponsor Me” video, submit it! If you have a fun little “Creative Short” that you shot for your school project or your neighborhood skate shop, submit it! If you end up being chosen for a category, let the world see your work! Tell everyone about it.
What is it about skateboarders that make them so apt at making films?
If you think about it, since the first Powell videos, skateboarders have always been fascinated with film. We can thank Stacy Peralta for that. Skateboarders, I think, are genuinely really good at thinking “outside of the box”. I’d like to think that we’re just instinctively creative.
How does this festival differ from the Underskatement film festival?
Underskatement is a mobile film festival. It jumps from city to city and shows independent films. We had Underskatement come through here in Seattle. The thing that we’re trying to do differently is, provide a destination like Cannes or Sundance for skateboarders and create a two-three day event around the celebration of skateboarding and film-making.
Who are some of your favourite film makers in the skate community?
I’m going to say: Stacy Peralta, Ty Evans, Dan Wolfe, Brian Lotti, Fred Mortagne, Spike Jonze, everyone behind any Transworld video, everyone behind the old 411 videos, any skate team manager who is clocking in hours filming along with his team filmer, and all the documentary type filmers out there!
Anything else you want to say about it?
Mark your calendars. It’s going to be happening August 14-16 in Seattle, WA. I just want to thank the entire French audience for all your support. So far you guys have submitted the most videos by mail and, you are the number #1 country for website viewing in Europe! Keep it coming. It’s great to see everyone getting hyped on this!
You can find us at www.theskateboardfilmfestival.com, twitter, myspace, vimeo, youtube, and on facebook.
Follow the examples of these guys and enter the Skateboard Film Festival today!
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