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.

We aimed to shift the way African culture is seen in the media. Through a unification of Ghanian skate videos, televangelists, Ghana’s “Gollywood” cinema and media coverage, we crafted a look and feel that pushed the beauty and experiences of African culture into the future. It wasn’t a history lesson, but rather a glimpse into the future of what Africa has to offer.

Additionally, the film was also put through a film-print process, adding natural grain that gives the piece as a whole a humanity and intimacy that imbues every shot with feeling.