Sunday, April 7, 2019

Skate Vids - Night #1

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Sportz)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

For Skate Vids Night #1, filmmakers Andy Licardi and Joe Castrucci are screening two classics from the genre—Habitat's Mosaic (2003) and Alien Workshop's Memory Screen (1991)—as well as never before seen footage from the Alien Workshop archive.

Skate videos do more than showcase the athletic prowess of skateboarders. They capture, through an abundance of attitude and cinematic craft, the spirit of skateboarding. The genre first emerged in the 1980s with charming albeit amateurish works like “The Search for Animal Chin.” But it wasn’t until the advent of consumer grade camcorders in the 90s that the form reached stylistic maturity, coming to define that decade’s visual zeitgeist. Since then, skate videos have expanded into a global movement borrowing freely from the narrative, documentary and experimental film traditions while in turn influencing everything from video games to Hollywood blockbusters. Despite having entered the pop culture lexicon, though, skate videos remain DIY creations: in addition to landing tricks onscreen, members of a skate crew pull double duty as cinematographers and editors. One common technique is to use skate decks as makeshift dollies. It is no surprise, then, that skate videos boast acrobatic camerawork worthy of an action flick. Hard-hitting one moment, balletic the next, these overlooked cinematic gems find meaning in motion.

Free with $5 suggested donation. Half of the proceeds raised on both nights will go to the Newport DIY skate park.

Photo by Chris Luessen.