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On one level Deathbowl to Downtown is about street skating, but it's also an overview of skateboarding's shift from the parks and pools of the 70s, to the ramp skating in the 80s, to the street ascendancy of the 1990s and beyond. An entertaining, thought provoking take on why the action on New York's hectic streets represents skateboarding to millions of people worldwide.
As coined by Dogtown & Z-Boys, Skateboarder magazine was the original Bible of skateboarding and the history it captured in its pages tell the story of modern skateboarding’s roots and influenced an entire generation of skateboarders. This documentary tells the story of how this magazine became THE magazine of skateboarders worldwide, why it meant so much to them, and how it left an indelible mark on them during it’s meteoric rise and fall by the early 1980s. From shoeless surfers riding the concrete waves and the vast blacktop of Southern California, to fully padded sessions at skateparks, Skateboarder exposed the sport to kids around the world.
Formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1981, SSD (Society System Decontrol) are universally recognized as the first straight-edge band and their 1982 debut The Kids Will Have Their Say is considered a landmark release for hardcore music. However many fans consider 1983’s sophomore effort Get It Away to be the band’s most crucial release. Trust Records has re released both albums and has partnered with Six Stair Productions to tell the story in this short film about one of hardcores most important bands, SSD.
FRUIT OF THE VINE is a super 8mm film that documents the incredible and often dangerous lengths that skateboarders go to in order to ride deserted, empty swimming pools. It is not a historical documentary, but a collection of stories shot in 1999 while Coan and Rick traveled from southern California to Seattle and around the east coast in search of pools to ride. FRUIT OF THE VINE profiles the people who search for, find, break into, and ultimately glean some use out of these pieces of the American suburban wasteland.
