Heat Wave: SKATE KITCHEN (2018) – Introduced by Faduma Gure!

COPRESENTED WITH COMMUNITY PARTNER: BABES BRIGADE AND FOUNDER STEPH BATTIESTE

This July at the Revue, we bring the heat with Skate Kitchen, co-presented with community partner Babes Brigade and founder Steph Battieste.

Skate films have long centered a familiar perspective. Male-led, coming-of-age stories where rebellion and identity unfold in motion. Skate Kitchen shifts that lens.

Directed by Crystal Moselle and rooted in the real-life NYC skate collective, the film follows Camille, a young woman trying to find her place in the world, using the skate scene as her canvas. At its core, these are teenagers being teenagers. The chaos, the thrill seeking, the impulsiveness, the softness, all of it comes with the territory. But on a skateboard, the volume is turned up higher.

What begins as an entry point into freedom and friendship quickly reveals something more layered. Space is never neutral. It is claimed, protected, and constantly negotiated.

As Camille finds her way into an all-girl crew, the film reveals an ecosystem of care and community that exists within their world. There is an unspoken vetting process at play. Subtle, intuitive, and often happening when she is not even aware of it. Acceptance is not announced. It is built over time.

What stands out is how that process differs across spaces.

Among the girls, it is not about ego or performance. It is about understanding. Figuring out who Camille is, what she needs, and whether the group can hold her, and be held by her, safely. It is protective. It is rooted in care.

With the guys, those dynamics shift. Belonging becomes more outward, more pronounced, more tied to pride and pseudo-anarchy and pack mentality. Camille learns quickly that even in a world that feels free, movement requires awareness.

What grounds Skate Kitchen is its warmth. It is funny. It is intimate. It allows its characters to exist beyond archetypes, holding space for contradiction, vulnerability, and growth. The film leans into a slice-of-life realism that feels lived-in and honest. Nothing is overstated. Everything is observed.

Because for many, skating is not just freedom. It is resistance. A way of carving out space, building community, and protecting what has been created.

That is what makes this collaboration with Babes Brigade feel so aligned. Their work reflects that same commitment to creating and holding space for women and non-binary skaters in real time, with Steph Battieste at the center of that vision.

This is more than a screening. It is a reflection on friendship, community, and the spaces we fight to keep.

So pull up this July at the Revue Cinema for Skate Kitchen. 

-Faduma Gure