London – BFI Southbank Skate Cinema PUSH PLAY

BFI Southbank marks 50 years of the iconic Undercroft Skate Space, the neighbouring area beneath the Southbank Centre that skaters have made their home for half a century, with a weekend film programme, PUSH PLAY, in venue at BFI Southbank (19 – 21 June) and online to BFI Player subscribers UK-wide from 4 June. Widely considered as the birthplace of British skateboarding, before becoming a global destination for skaters, the Southbank’s Undercroft Skate Space is one of the oldest continuously used skateboarding locations in the UK, spanning five generations of skaters.

Skateboarding continues to be a rich subject for film and in turn, film has inspired skaters and artists to explore their own creativity and ways of seeing the world and their place within it. PUSH PLAY at BFI Southbank celebrates this ongoing relationship between skateboarding and film, featuring in conversation events with Academy Award® winning filmmaker, skate filmer and Girl skateboards owner, Spike Jonze (live from New York) with Farran Golding and skateboarder, artist, model and Thames fashion owner Blondey McCoy. The programme also includes the UK premiere of French drama, OLLIE (2024) by Antoine Besse, classic skate cinema titles including a rare screening of Jonah Hill’s directorial debut MID90S (2018) and a Skate Shorts programme and discussion with some of the voices shaping the contemporary skateboarding scene hosted by Professional skateboarder Helena Long.

PUSH PLAY marks the final weekend of the Southbank Centre’s Skate 50, a multimedia exhibition telling the history of the iconic skateboarding space and the communities it has fostered over the past 50 years (part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary celebrations), as well as international Go Skateboarding Day on 21 June. PUSH PLAY is curated by Ben Luxford, BFI Director of UK Wide Audiences, and Film Studies Lecturer Siobhan Browne. Skateboarding is an intrinsically creative endeavour, PUSH PLAY showcases skate cinema’s vibrant cultural space for dialogue between cities, generations, and creative practices