To celebrate skateboarding’s debut at the 2021 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, we launched “Skate Nation Ghana.” Throughout the film, we showed the way skaters use Facebook’s platforms to build their communities— the connective tissue between like-minded people that helps them build movements. We told the story of a developing culture which got the attention of people around the world and resulted in the opening of the first Ghanaian skate park.

We wanted to use techniques of West African multi-perspective storytelling to shed light on Ghanian skate culture. Through interviews with skaters, an original script was tweaked to incorporate the cadence and slang they use in their speech (which often mixes English with Twi). Additional elements that reflected the sounds and influences on Ghanaian teenage life were incorporated, including a preacher’s diatribe against the evils of skateboarding, the expectations of doubtful Ghanian parents and the comedic news reports of Ghanaian celebrity Akrobeto.

Seamlessly weaving together the distinct shooting styles and creative voices of three very different directors, the film offers a unique opportunity to fully explore and develop the story from multiple perspectives. The editor worked through roughly 70 hours of material, consisting of various formats including mini DV, iPhone, Go Pro and Alexa. With access to ragged hand held, meticulously composed frames, speed drones, complex bullet cam set-ups and carefully blocked movement, the editor was provided with a diverse range of options to tell the best story and depict this vibrant skateboarding culture.

Having access to an authentic catalog of Ghanaian music was vital to helping the editor find the tone of the film. Once the music was selected, the goal was to thread together tracks that not only reflected the joy of skateboarding but also invoked the dreams of this eclectic group of skaters and their community as a whole.