Sophomore throws premiere party for skateboarding film

Samo students clad in punk band merchandise and Vans skate shoes lined Ocean Park Boulevard for the extravagant premier of sophomore Nick Landi ’s skateboarding film, “Fool.”  The event was held at the Almost Holden Collective (AHC), a small “Do it Yourself” venue in Santa Monica, which showcases independent music performances, art shows and movie screenings.

“Fool” compiles two years of skateboarding footage into a 40 minute film. The movie showcases eight main skaters, including two Samo students — Seiya Bowser (’15) and Alex Musca (’15). Both Bowser and Musca have their own individual segments in the film.

The movie’s premiere had been rescheduled and re-planned many times since filming started. Landi and Chase Hansen (’17) coordinated the event, with Hansen contacting the venue and renting it out all by himself.

“The premiere dates and locations have been changing for quite a while now,” Landi said. “Originally it was supposed to be at a friend’s house with a little over 20 friends, but as the time and amount of footage grew, we realized a venue was almost essential. Luckily, my good friend Chase told me about his band, which was performing at Almost Holden Collective, and said we could intertwine the two events.”

Four musical acts played at the premier. Hansen’s hardcore/punk band Lamp started off the night with a high-energy, mosh-pit-earning set. Hansen described his performance as “sweaty, aggressive and fun.”

“We can usually never go through our songs without something getting unplugged or broken,” Hansen said.

After Lamp’s debut performance, the new Los Angeles post-punk band, Worm Charmer, performed its debut set as well. After Worm Charmer, Samo student Michael Dos Santos (’17) performed for the first time under his rap moniker Mike Dos. Finishing off the night was a lengthy set by Samo student Franky Kohn (’15) and his rock band, The Living Strange. Landi said his reasoning for booking this genre-diverse line-up was to inspire creativity and unity among the motley audience.

“[Having] multiple bands is good because at events they unify and introduce people to new types of art and creativity,” Landi said.

Even though the venue fits up to 100 people, the AHC could not accommodate all who attended, and many ended up viewing through the window from the sidewalk outside. According to Landi, such a turnout was unexpected.

“I expected around 40 people to actually come and be committed to the event,” Landi said. “But I was thoroughly surprised when people came over an hour early to [reserve] their seats. By the time the premiere was starting, the venue, as well as the sidewalk, were packed.”

Landi said that he was initially anxious to please the non-skaters in the audience, making an effort to edit the movie to make it more accessible to a non-skater. His anxiety dissipated as soon as the movie started to play.

“I wanted the joy and culture from the film to resonate with people who haven't really been exposed to skating, and with the skaters and skate nerds at the same time,” Landi said. “In the end, however, both sides seemed to be really enthusiastic and enveloped in it.”

Landi has been uploading short skateboarding compilations to his Youtube account since he was in sixth grade. “Fool,” however, is his third and most ambitious venture into the realm of full length skate videos. His previous full length videos, “Amnesia” (2013) and “Righteous” (2013), were shot and edited in a matter of months. According to Landi, “Fool” has been a much more rigorous production.

“‘Fool’ is our first real project while the others, ‘Amnesia’ and ‘Righteous,’ were just spontaneous iPhone clips — random park and street.” Landi said.Over the course of the production process, not only has the movie itself gone through many changes, but so has Landi.

“The interesting thing about ‘Fool’ is that, since it's all documented, the viewer will get a glimpse of these changes of the tricks we would do, the height differences and the style we had,” Landi said. “We filmed ‘Fool’ at a crucial part in our lives, and we basically grew with it.”

In the few weeks following the video’s premiere, Landi has already made two more short skateboarding montages. This film’s reception catalyzed his motivation to make more videos, he says.

“Finishing fool and seeing the crowd so hyped definitely kick-started a much more motivated approach to filming and editing,” Landi said.

nyoung@thesamohi.om