There are tons of skateboarding themed movies out there, but none had ever given the girls any attention until the upcoming Skate Kitchen. With an enthusiastic premiere at Sundance — as well as being featured at LGBTQ festivals like Inside Out Toronto, Frameline and the forthcoming Outfest — this indie flick has easily become one of the summer’s most anticipated films.
Directed and co-written by Crystal Moselle, the film’s website describes her debut narrative feature: “Camille, an introverted teenage skateboarder (newcomer Rachelle Vinberg) from Long Island, meets and befriends an all-girl, New York City-based skateboarding crew called Skate Kitchen. She falls in with the in-crowd, has a falling-out with her mother, and falls for a mysterious skateboarder guy (Jaden Smith), but a relationship with him proves to be trickier to navigate than a kickflip.”
Moselle came across the real-life, titular skate group — who make up the film’s main cast — during a chance meeting on a train, and later commissioned them for a short film for Miu Miu’s “Women’s Tales” in 2016. As they’ve continued to gain more visibility in skateboarding since then, giving these amazing women a full-length feature is the right move. The fact that they’re non-actors is beneficial, allowing their unique and vibrant personalities to flow naturally.
Skate Kitchen’s dreamy cinematography enhances Moselle’s documentary-like style, complimenting a tale of female friendship and empowerment that we’ve never seen before. And if you think the film sounds incredible already, other major aspects include sexual fluidity and an outspoken lesbian character named Kurt, played by Nina Moran.
Skating has forever been a male-dominated culture, which can be alienating for women who participate in it. For that reason, a film like Skate Kitchen is more necessary than ever, not to mention that it features important queer-inclusivity. Hopefully this movie not only inspires more women to skate, but also to be unafraid to challenge norms — just like the crew does courageously both on-screen and in their own lives.
Skate Kitchen opens in limited theaters on August 10. You can check if it’s coming to your city here, and make sure to watch the trailer below!
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