United Skates
Description
Eight wheels and a roller rink hold special significance in the African American community, as the act of roller skating provides a meaningful, vibrant, and safe way for people to express themselves. Examining the historical and cultural influence of skating rinks around the county, filmmakers Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown document recent rink closures and discriminatory regulations that make it harder for skaters to gather, while celebrating the community that is determined to keep the spirit and their skating alive.
“A window onto a vibrant American subculture that is currently endangered (as so many other things are) by real-estate profiteers, Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown’s United Skates introduces African Americans who for generations have found a refuge from the world in the roller rink.” —John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter
New York-based, Vietnamese-Australian filmmaker Tina Brown has worked in media and entertainment through various roles including film publicist, magazine editor and writer, television and film producer, and now filmmaker. Brown co-produced the award-winning feature-length documentary Dear Mandela, which was supported by the Sundance Institute and was nominated for an African Academy Award. In 2009, she co-founded 2300 Films with her Emmy-award winning Director of Photography husband, Matt Peterson ACS. They have shot features and commercials in almost every US state including Alaska and Hawaii, and international locations from the San Blas Islands to Portugal.
For nearly a decade, Dyana Winkler worked full time supporting filmmakers at the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and later the Tribeca Film Institute Feature Film Program. Winkler also worked as a screener for Chicken & Egg Pictures, programmed for the Sundance Film Festival and the Outfest Film Festival, and is an alumnus of the Film Independent Fast Track and Documentary Lab. Her most recent narrative screenplay, Bell, was awarded the 2016 Sundance Sloan Commissioning grant, the 2017 SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship, and participated in the 2017 Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab. Winkler spent nearly a decade living internationally, where she interviewed recent escapees from Tibet for local TV stations and newspapers, and directed a short documentary film on South Asian orphanages for the BBC.
Film Details
Language English
Year 2018
Runtime 90
Country USA
Director Tina Brown, Dyana Winkler
Producer Tina Brown, Dyana Winkler
Editor Katharine Garrison
Cinematographer Matt Peterson
Music Jongnic Bontemps, Jim Winkler
Print Source HBO