FESTIVAL PROGRAM & SCHEDULE

BIKE PATH

Very first screening of a special project about Arto Saari & Pablo Films are venturing into the subcultures of the world.

FIN

EXIST

follows Palestinian skateboarder Aram Sabbah to the Olympic qualifications in Dubai, capturing his personal battle in leaving his homeland during the war to pursue his passion for skateboarding and carry the mantle for Palestine.

Aram never intended to qualify for the Olympics. His objective was not to compete but to send a message —a message of resilience, of resistance, and of hope.

BEAUTY

Disability is neither conflict nor resolution in BEAUTY, but the starting point for a collective story about athletes who move, compete, travel and build community. Directed by Eduardo Muñoz and José del Corral. BEAUTY celebrates identity, representation and the communities built around action sports.

SENSELESS — VILMER’S VIEW ON VISION

Swedish skateboarder Vilmer Bäckman was diagnosed with the rare eye condition LHON at the age of 16 and now has approximately two per cent peripheral vision. The documentary follows him to Rio de Janeiro for his first international adaptive skateboarding competition.

HOUDA

Directed by Svea Destina Ege @blick.mal @nina.skater

Growing up in a conservative environment in Morocco, Houda is the only female skateboarder in the city. The film follows her as she challenges the world around her through skateboarding, and encourages other young women to follow their own paths.

A DAY WITHOUT WAVES

Arriving in Paris to study at the Sorbonne, Mathilde feels adrift, far from home and the love she left behind. Skipping class on her skateboard, she meets Zelda, a free-spirited skater who introduces her to an unexpected sisterhood. Over a single day, their connection begins to unsettle her certainties.

A Day Without Waves — Une journée sans vagues

BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME

“Freedom”, a free skatepark, music studio, and cultural hub located in the heart of Accra, Ghana was seized and taken for ransom in an overnight coup lead by a mysterious land-grabber.

Today, they continue to fight the unspoken resistance that arises when women lead where they’re not expected to. 

Directed by Julian Dykmans

BARIKA RISING

Inspired by the predicament of displaced youth, Barika Rising documents the creation of a skatepark inside a refugee camp and its impact on community.

SHAPES OF RESISTANCE

Shapes of Resistance follows photographer Fred Mortagne and skateboarder Jaakko Ojanen into the Swiss landscape in search of an unlikely skate spot: the Toblerones, concrete anti-tank barriers built to stop movement, now reimagined through the eyes of skateboarding.

KALEB

KALEB A visually lyrical portrait of recovery, resilience and belonging within skate culture.

LOVE MALMÖ

When Love Park was being torn down, and we saw reports from Instagram, the reactions were like ‘Ok, we’re losing the chance to experience this thing on your bucket list and engage in this heritage.’

Shot and edited by Chris Mulher!

I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR A LONG TIME

Before skateboarding became a career for women, before the sponsors, contests, clips and social feeds, there were people who simply kept showing up. Helena Long was one of them.

This is a film about longevity, independence, friendship and staying true to yourself.

LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU ARE A GIRL)

Learning To Skateboard In A Warzone (If You’re A Girl) is the story of young Afghan girls learning to read, write-and skateboard-in Kabul.

Preseneted by Skateistan

SALTY

Dave, an aging surfer, opens up to an anger management counselor about his triggers such as foilers, onewheels, and vanlifers.

HOTPIPE HILLBILLIES

A documentary about community, resilience and finding joy in the most unlikely of places. Against the backdrop of Shoreham’s industrial shoreline, a diverse crew of surfers gather at an outflow pipe to ride waves thats are often messy, fickle and short-lived.

This ain’t Cornwall. It sure ain’t California. But for this crew, it’s home.

RÁN

A film documenting the adventures of Freddie Meadows, leading up to a big wave surfing discovery in the Arctic.

BIG VS. SMALL

When Filmmaker Minna Dufton started her documentary about elite big wave champion surfer, “tiny fighter” Joana Andrade, who rides the powerhouse waves at Nazaré, Portugal (home of the 100ft World Record Wave surfed by Garrett McNamara), little did she know Joana harbored a deep secret.

When Joana shares with Minna that she needs to go train as a free-diver to overcome her fear of drowning, an extraordinary thing happens…

CALLING OF THE OCEAN

Three intertwined trajectories reveal how surfing, experienced in the spirituality of the waves, transforms into a philosophy of life and an act of preservation, leading humankind back to its ancestral communion with the ocean.

ANTARCTICA – DOMAIN ONE

A call for conservation. This documentary delves into the pressing need to safeguard Antarctica, a continent collectively owned by nations worldwide. It unveils the stark consequences of climate change on this fragile ecosystem.

This film serves as a potent call to action, stressing the urgent requirement for an MPA to ensure the preservation of Antarctica’s ecological equilibrium and the survival of its extraordinary wildlife.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Thirty years of skateboarding at Milano Centrale, told by the locals who transformed a city square into an iconic spot. Through archival footage and firsthand accounts, the documentary traces its origins, golden years, and uncertain future—revealing how generations of skaters shaped Milan’s cultural identity and built a community that reaches far beyond skateboarding.

THE WAVE

Life doesn’t move in a straight line – it comes in waves.

The Wave follows Alex on a deeply personal journey through skateboarding, friendship, pressure, change, and self-discovery. Between moments of freedom and uncertainty, the film reflects on what it means to lose balance, find direction again, and keep moving forward.

LONELY RIDER

LONELY RIDER Juice, a skateboarder since the 80s, has filmed countless skate videos in which others have excelled. This time he turns the camera on himself; to his middle-aged skating and his changing identity as a skateboarder, but above all to his and his son`s shared skating sessions, which are interrupted by a rivaling sport – scooting.

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE YESTERDAY

Lovingly-restored 16mm surf film footage, a salt-infused soundscape and wisdoms from Australia’s Gurus, Outsider Artists and Intuitives combine to tell the story of a wild community who took off up the coast and discovered a whole new way to live.

THROUGH MY BOARD

Raised at Burnside Skatepark in the early ’90s, Paul Johnson is a Black, deaf skater navigating a predominantly white, hearing world. He finds belonging through skateboarding and his friendship with Bryan, who is also Black and deaf. As Paul struggles with sobriety and seeks stability, construction threatens the park and younger skaters challenge its elders to grow. His journey mirrors a community facing an urgent choice: evolve or risk losing everything.

EMPIRE SKATE

SUOMIFORNIA proudly presents a very special screening of EMPIRE SKATE first time in Europe

The movie chronicles the colorful rise and enduring influence of New York skateboarding culture, through the global phenomenon of Supreme and intimate portraits of the characters who breathed life into that world. From the highs of breakout film success and the creation of a brand and movement to the lows of fractured families and the loss of close friends, it is a style-and-substance trip through a unique moment when multiple trends converged on one city to create something timeless.

LANDING

Landing follows young people in Okhtyrka as they build a skatepark and find solidarity amid war.

Supported by artists, volunteers, and parents, they create a space where fear gives way to action, belonging, and hope for the future.

NORDIY – A FREE SPACE FOR STUTTGART

A disused lot near Stuttgart’s Nordbahnhof catches the eye of a group of skaters. With craft and a lot of concrete, they turn the place into the do-it-yourself skatepark NORDIY. But as dreams take shape here, a pressing question arises: can a self-made free space survive in a city that keeps closing in on itself?

AWARDS AND FESTIVAL CLOSING WORDS

Announcement of the following categories:
BEST SURF SHORT
BEST SKATE SHORT
BEST SURF
BEST SKATE
BEST SOUNDTRACK presented by Marshall

OREKA

From the aftermath of a life-changing accident to the podiums of the world’s greatest sporting arenas, Michel Garcia has spent over fourteen years alongside his patient, Maxime Cabanne, witnessing an extraordinary ascent. Bound by sport, resilience, and a shared pursuit of self-transcendence, their relationship evolves into something far beyond rehabilitation. Together, they now face one final challenge: a polar crossing across the frozen wilderness of the Arctic.