South African Skateboarding Short 'Dropping In' Premieres at Sundance Film Festival

Dropping In, 2015

The skateboarding oriented short Dropping In was selected among five winners for the coveted title of 2015 Sundance Film Challenge Winner, out of over 1,000 submissions. Inspired by true events, Dropping In follows the coming-of-age journey of Sam (Sam Masuku), an informal settlement dwelling youth in South Africa who is taken under the wing of a skateboard park owner, Marcus (Damiane van Reenen). Marcus soon becomes Sam’s skating coach and mentor.

The film was inspired by the story of a Jeffreys Bay (the heart of South Africa surfing) surfer who conquered the vices of drugs through finding his calling in surfing. Following this unorthodox path, the surfer changed the lives of locals and helped pave the careers of current South African surfers. In Between 10and5, Willem van den Heever (Dropping In writer, producer, editor and director) said this man, “didn’t only teach tourists and holiday goers how to surf, but also some of the kids on the street. His aim was to help them invest their energy into something positive. And this is how some of the street kids have winded up as professional surfers, surfing for South Africa today”(Between 10and5, 2015). the film, Sam too goes through the process of overcoming his troubles through skateboarding. 

Watch the full short Dropping In *contains strong language*

In a RYOT Interview, van den Heever said, “as a young South African coming out of school, you only have a few choices because I think South Africa is a bit conservative when it comes to your job and what you’re going to study..so things like studying art, or film or anything alternative except for the norm like science or economics, is really way out” (RYOT, 2015). 

How many of you chose/are choosing to go against the norm in your studies or careers? How was it influences by action sports? Or the arts...etc?

Let’s weigh in BSC readers!

Follow @Willemdafilm on Twitter to let him know your thoughts on Dropping In
Remember to Follow @BLACKSK8ERCHICK on Twitter.

Check Out the 2015 Sundance Film Challenge Winners Here

“Whitewash,” Documentary on the Black Experience in Surfing

I would like to send out a special Thank You to @Bertstyle and our friends at Brown Girls Surf for sharing information on the documentary Whitewash. A few weeks ago I posted an article about "12 Miles North: The Nick Gabaldon Story." Whitewash is another documentary expanding on the black experience in surfing.

Source:Whitewash,2011

Whitewash explores the African-American experience and race in surfing. It touches on some pertinent issues about how the history of surfing was detached from it’s indigenous Hawaiian origins and largely regarded as having it’s founding or “discovery” with European settlers. It also focuses on the issues of segregation and racism at beaches in California and of how the belief that “black people can’t swim” was passed down from generation to generation. 

One section of the documentary that really stuck out was the story of an English sea captain’s account of seeing young Ghanian boys “riding waves on wooden boards” on the Gold Coast of Ghana in the 17th century. Ironically, this was the same coast where the slave trade later occurred. As the slave trade expanded, many Africans in costal regions moved inland, which could suggest why “aquatic culture” greatly diminished. In the 1960’s, two American surfers would later be documented “introducing” surfing to Ghanaians in the film “The Endless Summer.” Well “reintroducing.” 

Whitewash is definitely an eye opener for individuals in the black community, who believe that sports like surfing is a “white thing.” Although one’s interest in a sport should not be associated with race it is still a factor. Though as surfer Andrea Kabwasa noted “When you’re riding a wave there is no race.” 

Whitewash is now available to watch for free Hulu,check it out below!

I encourage you to watch this documentary and please share your thoughts. One point that this documentary projected was the fact that so much of our history has been written from one perspective. We should be recording our own stories,history and culture so it is not distorted. The documentary also featured  the founder of  Brooklyn Surfer, a company and surfing community in Brooklyn, New York. Guess what my fellow New Yorkers? You don't need to go on the West Coast to surf.