Writer and Interviewer
SKATEISTAN
Short Documentary
Short Documentary at Blam Studio.
This happened fast, and came in at the beginning of our summer vacation. Julian and I spent it producing, writing and researching. It was exciting, we were sitting by a pool, making calls and typing away on a project we felt passionate about, basically living two workaholic’s dream. On my way to JoBurg I met Louise Menke, our photographer, skater and protagonist. The layover was in Istanbul soon after Erdogan’s coup. The plane was full of laminated propaganda leaflets featuring carefully edited quotes by democratically elected rulers across the globe, and videos we couldn’t mute or turn down.
Johannesburg is a very complex city. It was a lifetime in 8 days. Sometimes it’s hard to believe our luck. Sometimes it’s hard to believe how hard we work. Most of the time we wish we could do more.
Here from the Press Release:
Get Used To It focuses on women empowerment in South Africa on the occasion of Skateistan‘s Johannesburgh opening.
South Africa’s tragic colonial history has devastating consequences to this day. Highly engineered and violent racist exploitation has resulted in extreme inequality, corruption, and record crime rates. Gender equality is written into today’s South African Constitution, but in reality, Born Free girls and women suffer from a harshly patriarchal tradition that enables misconduct, and is known to turn on them in cases of attack or abuse.
One NGO uses skateboarding to break down barriers.
Oliver Percovich’s first street skateboarding sessions with Afghani kids in war-torn Kabul lead to the creation of Skateistan. Skateistan’s mission is to “Empower children and youth through skateboarding and education.” They have built two schools in Afghanistan, one in Cambodia, and one in Johannesburg.
In Get Used to It we take you on this trip. We skated the streets, we visited a progressive historical archive based in the Women’s prison, we interviewed township community leaders and pro-bono lawyers who lead legal aid workshops for victims of abuse. The energy was palpable. The open-door Skateistan school opening was supported by a skate demo including Tony Hawk and his wife, activist Catherine Goodman. They brought their family and the Birdhouse team. World-renowned artist and agitator Paul McCarthy delivered a statue of Obama wielding a board. Profits from the statue’s sale will contribute to fund future Skateistan projects. A community of global proportions came together that day.
Get Used to It – I won’t go quietly is named in honor of the progress we witnessed thanks to the work of citizens, skaters, educators and activists we met in JoBurgh.