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 onwards. Widely considered as the birthplace of British skateboarding, before becoming a global destination for skaters, the 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) 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 skater 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, a day for the global skate community to come together with events happening worldwide. PUSH PLAY is curated by Ben Luxford, BFI Director of UK Wide Audiences, and Film Studies Lecturer Siobhan Browne. Skateboarding is often seen as a refuge, an escape and an identity but it is also an intrinsically creative endeavour, PUSH PLAY champions skate cinema’s vibrant cultural space for dialogue between cities, generations, and creative practices, beyond nostalgia or surface subculture.
The weekend programme opens with the UK Premiere of Antoine Besse’s feature debut OLLIE (2024) on 19 June, followed by a Q&A with the director. Following the death of his mother 13-year-old Pierre moves in with his father in rural France. Seeking escape in skateboarding he meets a troubled seasonal worker and former skateboarder, forming a bond that may heal their lives.
The hugely anticipated event, SPIKE JONZE IN CONVERSATION LIVE FROM NEW YORK, on 21 June, will revisit key clips and highlights from the acclaimed filmmaker Spike Jonze’s groundbreaking skate videos on the big screen, from VIDEO DAYS to PRETTY SWEET and everything in between, followed by an in-conversation with Jonze, hosted by journalist Farran Golding, about the continued presence, evolution and inspiration ofskateboarding throughout his career, beaming in live from New York.
- UK Premiere of Antoine Besse’s feature debut OLLIE (2024) and Q&A
- Academy Award®-winning Spike Jonze in conversation live from New York, revisiting his groundbreaking skate videos on the big screen
- Skateboarder, and model Blondey McCoy in conversation to discuss his career and introduce Robert Hamer’s classic Ealing comedy KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949)
- Skate shorts film programme and contemporary skateboarding discussion
- Era-defining Skate Cinema, 25th anniversary of DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS (2001) plus SKATE KITCHEN (2018) and rare screening of Jonah Hill’s directorial debut MID90S (2018)
- UK-wide BFI Player Subscription tiles: OLLIE, SKATE KITCHEN, MINDING THE GAP (2018) and BOARDERS (2021)
Full details for Push Play | BFI Southbank 19-21 June
Artist, skateboarder, model and Thames fashion brand founder Blondey McCoy also joins us on 20 June to discuss his career, his relationship with film and to introduce his film choice for PUSH PLAY, Robert Hamer’s classic Ealing comedy KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949), starring Dennis Price and Alec Guinness.
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