Leandre Sanders (The Skategoat) On New Documentary Film, ‘Skategoat’
As a wiseman once said, ‘you can have film without life, but you can’t have life without film.’
We don’t know what the fuck that means, really. He wasn’t actually that wise, I reckon. The comparison makes it confusing. However, I do agree with the second half of that sentence. That’s the measure of our enthusiasm for film and visual arts. What’s the point without it?
Additionally, we are as enthusiastic about skateboarding and travel, which is to say, so enthusiastic that without those things, again, what’s even the point? Those existential necessities combine in a new documentary, Skategoat, directed by acclaimed artist and filmmaker, Van Alpert, premiering this week at The Sydney Film Festival. Skategoat is a feature film several years in the making that documents a young boy’s dream of becoming a professional skateboarder.
Leandre Sanders, aka Skategoat, was born into a world of gangs and crime in Hawthorne, California. While his older brothers followed his parents into LA’s violent street life, Leandre spent his days at Venice Beach Skatepark, where he caught the eye of filmmaker Van Alpert. Van documented the talented youngster’s life for over a decade, as his family unravelled and his skills – including his unique ‘no stance’ skate style – took off. At sixteen, Leandre followed a girl to Melbourne, where he lived for over two years, and where his dream of becoming a professional skater started to become a reality.
Van Alpert’s documentary debut pulses with a tactile sense of street style and an incredible soundtrack from Tyler, the Creator, Tame Impala, and more. From the producers of acclaimed documentaries Bra Boys and Fighting Fear.
We caught up with Leandre and Van for a quick chat about illegal tricks and the film’s biggest takeaways.
Went skating today, actually.
Leandre: Where’d you skate?
It’s called 5th and 5th, it’s a court with boxes and shit.
Leandre: Oh, yeah, in Brooklyn, I’ve been there a couple of times. I’m happy a skater is interviewing me because one of these questions we got sent is questionable.
Whoa which one? Oh, wait, I bet I know which one.
Leandre: I don’t know how to answer, ‘what is the most illegal trick?’
I mean, it’s nollie front smith, right? Am I crazy?
Leandre: [Laughs] That’s a funny looking trick, yeah. I was going to say mall grab, but that’s not really a trick. I just don’t want to talk down on any trick, you know what I mean? I think that hard flip is the hardest trick for me, the most I can do it off is like a three stair, I just don’t know how to answer which trick is illegal.
I like to ask skaters that question because we all have an answer even if we don’t say it out loud.
Leandre: You know what? Maybe dolphin flip, you can get in trouble for that trick sometimes.
Yeah but who’s doing dolphin flips? It’s not 2009, man.
Leandre: That’s what I’m saying!
Alright, question one done. How has being documented throughout this project affected your skating career?
Leandre: Me and my little brother, Leonte, started skating at a very young age together. Skating affected us in good ways but for sure some bad ways; I feel like before I left to Australia, we were best friends, and then I decided to move, and we stopped hanging out as much. Before that, Leonte was my main filmer. It made my skating improve and made me stronger, and made me realize how important documenting and filming was in skating. It made me more open minded toward filming skating, pushed me to try different things.
Van: And I think it pushed you to film stuff outside of Venice, too.
Leandre: Yeah, we’d go downtown, hopping around train tracks. It was different for me because I wasn’t like, going out and filming street. I grew up at the same skatepark as Louie Lopez and Theotis, and I’d watch skate videos, but I didn’t really have access to YouTube. I remember Antwaun Dixon gave me a board and a DVD that had Baker Has A Deathwish on it. I was just skating to skate at the park and as I got older, I realized how important filming was. We tried to make little street parts, but as the film got more important, those things got saved for this documentary. Every clip was important to us. This documentary that we are premiering this weekend will have all of those clips.
How was that impacted by the move to Australia? Or was it?
Leandre: When I moved here, I changed. I learned. I started filming with this guy, Timothy. At the time, I was just a skatepark rat, but then I got out of the skate park and started filming street, and this documentary was the motivator that whole time. All the clips we filmed are now in this documentary. There are things that we filmed last year that I wanted to use for my street part, but it’s in the documentary, because this is more important to me than a street part. We’ve been working on it for fifteen or more years.
What do you think has been the biggest challenge for you? It sounds like it may have been having to withhold clips.
Van: I think that while making the movie, we wanted to make sure that when we went out and filmed stuff and got cool clips and moments, that we save them for the film. Like when Leandre turned pro, which you’ll see in the movie, you’ll have watched the progression of all that happened before. Leandre’s gotten really good at learning to shoot things, save things, compile things, in the bigger picture of having a really big release, something bigger than an Instagram post. He’s gotten really good at gathering footage and saving it up for a bigger picture.
Leandre: I get it all the time, ‘when are you going to put out a part?’ and it’s like, my whole life is a part of this big thing. That’s how it feels. I mean, back home, I go street skating every weekend. I’m out in the field, but this is the most important thing in my life, rather than just putting out stuff on Thrasher or for my sponsors. I want to do that for them, but this is important. After this film comes out, I’ll be moving in on those things 100$.
So you’re casually flipping into thirteen stair rails, what’s a thing you can’t do? Is there a trick that has eluded you all of these years?
Leandre: I would say like a crook nollie flip. I’ve done that once in my life. I think that if I sit and practice this trick all day, I can lock it down, but I just have so much fun and when I get frustrated, I’m like, dude I just want to have a good time. I’d rather have fun doing something else rather than struggling to hardflip down a four stair, you know?
So what’s your methodology for learning new shit despite the frustration moments? What’s the secret here?
Leandre: Relax, tell myself I got it. I’m not going to walk away from a trick that I’ve been trying for an hour. The second I get actually frustrated with a trick, I’ll stop and think about what I’m doing wrong, go skate around the bowl for a bit, but always come back to it. Sometimes it’s something as small as how you have your shoulders, kneeling down differently, but taking the time to think about it. I started learning that a couple of years back, that you have to turn your whole body to do certain tricks a certain way. I’m still learning every day.
Here’s a question for both of you: what would you like your audience to take away from this film?
Leandre: I feel like this film can bring families together, can make kids go after what they want to pursue in life, and even if you’re not a skateboarder, you’re going to learn something from it. It’s going to make the world bright for whoever gets to see this film. As I experienced filming it, it made me bright and made me happy and made my family want to do better.
Van: I think one big takeaway would be the power of travel. When Leandre had the opportunity to leave Venice Beach and go to Australia, he learned about a whole new world that most people wouldn’t experience at their age, and the progression that happened to him in that experience was so powerful compared to the other kids who stayed in Venice. Leandre left at a very unique and formative age, and I feel like when he came back, he had progressed so far. Aside from being an incredible story about family and resilience, there are really cool takeaways from the film like the topic of travel and experience, and what it can do to you as a young person. I’m really excited for people to see that and experience it.
The Festival will be screening Skategoat for two sessions, with Leandre Sanders (aka Skategoat) present at the screenings:
SAT 15 JUN 6:20PM - Event Cinemas George Street
SUN 16 JUN 4:15PM - Dendy Newtown
The Saturday screening will be followed by a post-screening event at the Hub - Skate Sounds: The Skategoat Party - featuring performances from jazz/neo-soul performer Yasmina Sadiki and DJ Jacob Turl.
