DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS

Year: 2001
USA: Sony Pictures Classics
UK: Columbia TriStar Films
Cast: Sean Penn, Jay Adams, Tony Alva, Bob Biniak, Paul Constantineau, Shogo Kubo, Jim Muir, Peggy Oki, Stacy Peralta, Nathan Pratt, Wentzle Ruml, Allen Sarlo
Director: Stacy Peralta
Country: USA
USA & UK: 90 mins
USA: Rated: PG-13 for language and some drug references
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language and drugs references
USA Release Date: 25 April 2002 (Limited Release - Los Angeles and New York)
UK Release Date: 5 July 2002

Synopsis

"As far as true folklore is concerned in the late-twentieth century, I can't think of many stories of more import and influence to youth than that of the Dogtown Skate Boarders." - Glen E Friedman.

Modern skateboarding was born in Dogtown, a run-down urban beach neighbourhood in Santa Monica that bred aggressive, territorial competitors with a street-smart sense of style. It was there that a bunch of discarded kids from broken homes formed a group known as the Zephyr Team a.k.a. Z-Boys. Desperate to ride, they used guerrilla tactics, illegally skating school playgrounds and the empty swimming pools of the Santa Monica elite. They surfed in the mornings and skated in the afternoons, instinctively gravitating towards a fluid, surfing-inspired skate style.

These wild kids with their riffing, low-slung style seemed to explode out of nowhere at the Del Mar Nationals in 1975, and within a year, although initially shunned by more conventional skaters, the aggressive Dogtown style and attitude came to dominate the sport. The Z-Boys became international teenage superstars as corporate sponsors offered them large sums of money to skate on their behalf. Ironically the Z-Boys success was the beginning of the end for the Zephyr Skate Team as its members took off on independent skating careers.

In DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS, director Stacy Peralta, one of the original Z-Boys, interweaves vintage footage, new editing techniques, breathtaking still photographs, new interviews with the team and narration from Sean Penn with music from the era. DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS explodes off the screen as a work that perfectly captures the energy of a cultural movement. DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS is the story of a group of accidental revolutionaries, gifted kids who inadvertently inspired an American pop culture phenomenon. The film won the Audience Award Director's Award 2001 at the Sundance Film Festival.