We’ve been fans of the Skateistan charity since we first heard of it, and the Burka Board and Prayer Board auctioned off to teach Afghanis how to skateboard. Now a short 10-minute documentary titled Skateistan: To Live and Die in Kabul has been creating a buzz since it showed at Sundance last month, and the project seems well worth supporting. The film chronicles the impact of the war in Afghanistan through the perspective of young people who take their minds off the turmoil by communing at a skate park there. Recently Turnstyle sat down with the film’s director, Orlando von Einsiedel, for an interview which is below. A great cause.
Interview with director Orlando von Einsiedel, and hit the Jump to see the full documentary Skateistan: To Live and Die in Kabul…
Talking About “Skateistan” from Turnstyle Video on Vimeo.
SKATEISTAN: TO LIVE AND SKATE KABUL from Diesel New Voices on Vimeo via BoingBoing
“To Live and SKATE Kabul” is the title.
[…] children in impoverished countries like Afghanistan and Cambodia — an excellent organization who we’ve covered before, in addition to the Burka and Prayer Board they auctioned off in order to raise funds to teach […]
[…] Chinese artist/rabblerouser/rebel/autocrat ass burr Ai Wei Wei joined the likes of Terry Richardson, Damien Hirst, Banksy, Takashi Murakami, Dface, Dave Kinsey and our personal favorite, ROA, by releasing his own collection of skateboard decks with the illustrious Sk8room crew. A trio of different boards were designed by Weiwei, who matched three of his better known quotes with images from his installations. Normally each board would be signed, but Sk8room had to forgo that touch in order to circumvent potential confiscation issues with China (so much for “throwing stones at a dictatorship” fellas.). Each board will be limited to only 150 decks, and can be purchased for about $1,010 (€750) at SK8room’s online boutique. If you want to feel better about spending a thousand dollars on a skateboard deck, you can comfort yourself by knowing that 20% of the proceeds will go to Skateistan — an admirable non-profit we’ve covered before. […]