Transcript:
(00:04) [Music] uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] i have always felt that there was more of a story to brazil’s skateboarding subculture and the reasons behind the success of their skate scene despite the constraints of the
(01:07) environment in which they live i just knew something special was happening here because i’ve met so many wide-eyed and empowered brazilian skaters people like sandro santos whose passion for skateboarding is simply contagious [Applause] [Music] hey sandro sandra i got something for you my friend this should help out a little bit with the skate lessons [Applause] yeah let’s try the new ones let’s try the new ones yeah and they’re off [Applause] [Music] you know skateboarding gets knocked around quite a bit
(02:08) and doesn’t get respected and it’s considered you know a toy or a children’s play thing a lot of times but if you ever get so close to see skateboarding enable young people to really make something of their lives if you look past all the other nonsense or you put it in such an environment you know it’s it’s one of the most beautiful things i’ve seen in my life [Music] last minute [Music] foreign
(03:36) [Music] where do you go [Music] um [Music] [Applause] [Music] (05:06) where do you go [Music] is [Music] it’s the first skate park in rio in rio no this first and all south america this park is the first park in all of south america yes wow what year was it built 19 76 76 wow man does it have a name
(06:09) they’re all the their own skatepark the old schedule i guess that’s appropriate so what’s the skate scene in general like here in rio oh skating here is for fun for fun yes we skateboard because we like it it’s my love i i i never never stop skating me too never ever man that’s beautiful that’s a beautiful thing [Music] [Music] rio de janeiro is a sprawling city of beauty
(07:13) great wealth and devastating poverty [Music] there is a great disparity between the very rich and the very poor and nowhere is this more evident than in the city’s shanty towns or favelas as they are called going into the infamous city of god i would experience the reality of just how hard life in brazil can be estimates state that one in four rio inhabitants live in one of the many overcrowded and unsanitary favelas that are teeming with crime and lacking in opportunity it is amazing to see firsthand how within these streets
(08:00) a literal war zone decent and good people can emerge and not let themselves be subjected or fall victim to what surrounds them person who has risen above the chaos is hip-hop star mv bill born and raised in the city of god he could have easily turned his back on the community instead he continues to live here dedicating himself to the plight of the children who grew up in this environment through the organization he co-founded the central unica das favelas or kufa he promotes social change providing the youth with an alternative
(08:43) to a life of crime and violence an alternative that includes skateboarding as a means to empower them none of the equipment you see in this room has been donated there were no partnerships but we did something different than other rappers usually do instead of buying gold bling bling cars we invested in equipment and through this we are investing in the people of this community no i understand expressing themselves and and what their environment is is important and this is uh this is tools to communicate i want to show a future now for this
(09:23) we i mean the people who did the audio visual utilized images that we have from a documentary in which all the people interviewed died so there’s a footage of them alive talking and then being buried it’s violent okay it is [Music] watching mv bill’s film left me speechless it was so dark so raw the protagonist so young and so disillusioned
(10:26) life in the favelas came into clear view and it hurt to look to see how poor young people are taken advantage of and used as tools stripped of their innocence and humanity was disgusting to try to digest i realized then just what mv bill was up against and how noble his actions are pretty heavy stuff man these kids have much of a choice i don’t usually use the lack of opportunities as a justification but looking at the type of society we have in which there is no opportunity
(11:30) education basic things the path of crime ends up becoming a possibility for many so although we bring opportunity and light here inside this house is still too small compared to what is offered out there where the demand is much higher we can’t compete with the drug trade because while there are 5 or 10 kids who want to participate in our work there are 100 who want to get into the drug dealing business there is no income in our work so the cops when they go in they don’t bring happiness they bring war all this
(12:20) why do they come in the police action inside the favelas is the result of the pressure from society it demands that police act in a certain way and there is also a lot of corruption and corruption is the door that leads to all the atrocities their role should be to protect us bring security but most people from the favelas fear the police those fireworks you hear are the warning sign that the cops are getting closer you’re safe it’s okay [Laughter] i’m man [Music] mv bill helped facilitate the building
(13:32) of a mini ramp and play area an oasis in the middle of the favela it attracts kids from all over the neighborhood how long has this ramp been here it’s been less than a year less than a year and who built it there was a group of people that helped out and made it happen wow that’s amazing the way i help is by trying to call attention to it and bring people who may or may not be connected to skateboarding to come here and see that this is a really cool project what do you think skateboarding means to to the kids here
(14:07) in the community i think today skateboarding hasn’t fully developed yet [Music] because although it seems like a cheap sport you need some money to put a good skateboard together and at least here in brazil that is far from most people’s realities but we have a lot of faith in the future of skateboarding here because of the way kids pay attention to it and the way it seems to grab their attention check out those kids sitting over there just watching [Music] besides being a very healthy form of entertainment
(14:45) because it moves your whole body i think skateboarding is not the only way but one of the many ways that can take someone from a life of invisibility and being marginalized [Applause] and being in an unfair country full of inequalities we have to embrace any paths we can find to surpass adversity i agree i think it could be it could be skateboarding or it could be football or basketball or rap music or or anything whatever whatever whatever attracts a person and turns them on and gets them excited about their life
(15:24) that’s a good thing i like skateboarding and i promote skateboarding but i i more so want to push the idea of just pursuing your passion period no matter what it is that’s what i wanted to say in the beginning that we’re not specialized in skateboarding but i particularly like it and have written it i play rap music a lot here and the audience consists of skaters it all feeds each other young people are important their future is important and it’s up to it’s up to us to encourage them and nurture them and
(15:57) help them grow nice thank you thank you thank you i’m gonna skate [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] (17:16) oh [Music] mv bill acts out of love where others see only blood he sees breath where others see only poverty and crime he sees potential and the possibility of goodness and so he has brought love into the favelas and he is making a difference the hardest of conditions in the states doesn’t even you know break the surface of the brutality of you know a community like the city of god and the things that we value the things that we think are important the things that we invest so much time and effort and energy in
(18:18) you just realize they don’t they don’t add up too much you know and uh and there’s a there’s a bigger picture and there’s things that are way more important and somehow in my life in the lives of other skaters all around the world skateboarding levels the playing field and skateboarding opens the doors in skateboarding even in an environment where there seems to be no opportunities at all skateboarding at least affords you the opportunity to be yourself to discover yourself and from there only good things can happen
(19:20) [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] so
(20:26) [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh my time in brazil reinforced my faith in skateboarding as an answer to life’s hardships and woes skateboarding is not just some recreational activity
(21:29) or sport it is life [Music] you