Cuban Skateboarding Crisis

Think of Cuba and you probably think of Fifties cars, cigars, Castro… This is the romanticised image of Cuba which appeals to tourists. Following the success of his last film, Fuck Off, about skaters from Bristol, Phil Brown decided to take his camera to Cuba and document what life is like there behind the image. Filming on location in Havana, he meets young skateboarders and invites them to speak for themselves as they prepare for the national skateboarding championships.

Brown's interviewees are clear about the importance of the sport. “It’s a way to escape if you don’t have money for anything else.” “The blockade affects us a lot. Many things we can’t get… so we are always looking for the best part of living.” The worst thing that can happen is a broken board. There is nowhere to buy a new board in Cuba, even if you could afford it. Some people wait for friends from abroad to bring a new one. More often they resort to home repairs. “In Cuba when things break you have to adapt.” We see an attempt to mend a broken board. First the drill breaks, then the saw. But eventually the board is patched up and used again.

The big day of the championship arrives, bringing not a huge crowd but a very enthusiastic one to Havana’s rather delapidated skateboard park. We see the skaters going through their moves and Phil captures the joy on the faces of the winners as they take away the best possible prize, a new skateboard.

In the closing minutes we follow a young skater through the streets as he weaves through traffic. This is as good as it gets for these youngsters. They know they won’t be able to travel to another country to skate, so they skate for the love of it.

This is a film with a heartfelt message behind the adventure shots. The direct approach makes it accessible to a wide audience.

You can watch the film at the official site.