We became aware of the JHB skateboarding scene through our Instagram page and were immediately fascinated by the stories emerging, especially the leitmotif of doing it yourself in Johannesburg. DIY seems to be the core idealogy of the Johannesburg skate scene and this DIY culture is seen in the creation of Soweto Skate Society by Sechaba The Bakersman, Wesorted by Beki Dube, and the Rhino Collective, a group of skateboarders who came together for their love of making music. To be properly introduced into the Johannesburg skateboarding scene I checked in locally with “Nollie Ghost” a young father and skateboarder residing in the CBD area. After a lot of conversations, it was evident that no one was documenting skate culture in a way that allowed people to tap into it. So together we started to research & developed the concept from June 2023, collecting random clips for a documentary until at the end we decided to spin it into a music documentary.
We made the videos without any production crew, shooting mostly with our iPhones and a broken-down pro camcorder. (Post-production was done in Berlin, Germany, by SEC Studios) To achieve something real, we invited a lot of skateboarders and threw a party for them at Mirrors, CBD, which is why the film starts with Nollie Ghost speaking about giving back to the community.
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