SNEAKERS
Femke Wolting
Netherlands, 2004, 52 minutes
Femke Wolting's SNEAKERS will make you want to go out and buy a new pair of shoes. And in fact, I did. So swept up in the shoe culture is this film that it generates the feeling, the reason, the need for a new pair of kicks. The funky soundtrack and the computer-age graffiti-style animation make you feel awesome for learning about the history of gym shoes.
SNEAKERS starts in the 1970s, with gym shoes being worn on the street by lower class, primarily black people in the U.S. because they were cheaper than dress shoes. In the 1980s, sneakers were adopted by hip hop artists, and the culture exploded when Adidas began sponsoring Run-D.M.C. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, surfers started to skateboard. Vans founders used skaters to test shoes, and invented the skate shoe. The 1990s brought the Jordan Revolution, when Michael Jordan, then a rookie, endorsed the Nike Air Jordan, arguably the first collector shoe. Jordans crossed over into the mainstream in a big way. Now limited edition shoes in wild color combinations and fabrics are the style, having become haute couture and as much a fashion staple as jeans.
Shoe obsession has spread around the world, and SNEAKERS features sneakerheads, designers, advertisers and cool-hunters in New York, L.A., London, Amsterdam and Tokyo, including Air Jordan's designer Tinker Hatfield and skateboarding pioneer Tony Alva. SNEAKERS delves into youth culture adeptly and easily, presenting us with the facts, the cool shoes and a sense of their place in the world.
Rose Vincelli
Femke Wolting is co-founder and director of Submarine, an Amsterdam-based production studio that develops and produces documentaries and cross-media programs for broadcasters and media companies. From 1994 to 2002, Wolting was initiator and programmer of "Exploding Cinema" for the International Film Festival Rotterdam. She has also worked for the Dutch national public television station VPRO. She directed the documentary IT'S THE END OF TV AS WE KNOW IT.
Print Source:
Yaniv Wolf, Submarine
Rapenburgerstraat 109
Amsterdam 1011 VL
Netherlands
Tel: +31 20 330 1226
Fax: +31 20 330 1227
Email: yaniv@submarine.nl
PRECEDED BY...AEROSOL
Miguel Angel Rolland
Spain, 2004, 23 minutes
A stylistic masterpiece, this film beautifully captures the colorful work of four graffiti artists in Madrid and Barcelona.
Print Source:
Miguel Angel Rolland
Calle Colmenares 13 4C
Madrid 28004
Spain
Tel: 34915218802
Fax: 34915218802
Email: lanterna@ya.com
Saturday 6/18 at 10:00 p.m.
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