Stacy Peralta Filmmaking Workshop at Ace Hotel Sydney
Photos by Dougal Gorman
‘I’m asked all the time about this and I say: content is not king—context is king.’
Last Thursday Monster Children in partnership with Patagonia held a film workshop with legendary director Stacy Peralta. ‘Legend’ as a noun gets thrown around a little too much, doesn’t it? For instance, in Australia, if someone does someone else a favour—picks up some drycleaning, say—they can be designated a ‘Legend’, which is completely absurd, but that’s how it is. Stacy Peralta, though, he really is a legend. Stacy is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and one of the most influential skateboarders of all time.
Stacy’s films are statistically some of the most watched films in the world. We’re talking about his skate films, which, in some cases, have been watched so many times that the video no longer works and the best bits are all scratchy from rewinds and rewatches. These days, Stacy is legendary for directing documentaries like Dogtown and Z-Boys (for which he won the Best Director Award at the Sundance Film Festival), Riding Giants, and Made In America. His latest is The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez.
The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez traces the epic story of another actual legend and Stacy came to The Ace Hotel Thursday to talk about the project, his filmmaking process, and to answer questions from the audience, made up of, for the most part, budding young filmmakers. The knowledge he imparted was invaluable, to say the least, but perhaps the best piece of advice Stacy delivered was this:
‘I’m asked all the time about this and I say: content is not king—context is king. I think that people need stories. Too often today, we’re moving so fast, we’re looking at so much imagery, that everything is becoming an exclamation point! And the human spirit needs stories; stories are really important. That’s why I do what I do, and why I enjoy it!’
It was an amazing and highly enlightening workshop and we want to thank Patagonia for making it possible, the Ace Hotel for hosting, Dougal Gorman for getting these photos, and, of course, the legendary Stacy Peralta for his wisdom and willingness to share it.
