Project Detail

Skate in Japan

A group of female skateboarders, the Okinawa Skate Girls Group
Skaters in Shiga, Japan
A man watching his archival skating footage
An artist with her skateboards that she painted
A skateboarder performing
A skateboarder preparing to skate down a flight of steps
A skater turning old skateboards into woodwork
A man seen from behind watching the sunset
A man in his skate shop
An upturned skateboard in a warehouse

Synopsis

In Japan, a culture shaped by restraint and social uniformity, skateboarding has long existed at the margins - regulated, discouraged, and only now tentatively embraced. SKATE IN JAPAN observes this contested space with quiet precision, tracing a community that finds freedom through movement, expression, and play.
Moving between street spots, domestic interiors and the shifting landscapes of Kyoto, the film approaches skateboarding as both a personal and collective language. In the fluid, almost choreographic movement of skater Issei Morinaka, it reveals an expression that resists containment, fleeting, yet deeply felt.
At its centre are individuals whose lives have unfolded at the edges of visibility. Homoro, a skate shop-owner whose own practice has been altered by injury, supports a younger generation of Boardwalk skaters. Alongside him is Caba, a once-renowned figure whose life was transformed by disability, and Hide, who leads efforts to realise a long-awaited public skatepark.
As the skatepark takes shape in Kyoto, it marks a subtle cultural negotiation between tradition and change. Accompanied by an original score, the film unfolds as a quiet meditation on time, belonging and the persistence of identity.

Details

Year
2027
Type of project
Features
Running time
80 min
Format
Blackmagic RAW (BRAW), with additional mixed digital and archival formats
Director
Steffan Roe Griffiths 1st Feature
Producer
Kimberley Anne Santos
Editor
Steffan Roe Griffiths
Director of Photography
Steffan Roe Griffiths
Sound
Ivano Milo
Composer
Ivano Milo
Principal cast
With contributions from: Yusuke 'Homoro' Arakawa, Issei Morinaka, Hideyuki 'Hide' Imai, Yamato Aketa, Shouta Sumi, Shigeru 'Caba' Omura, Hazel Cruzado, Chris Roome
Production Assistant
Lexi Budd

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Kimberley Anne Santos

Page updates

This page was last updated on 9th November 2026. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Director: David Borenstein (director), Pavel Talankin (co-director)

Year: 2025

A Russian teacher secretly documents his small town school's transformation into a war recruitment center during the Ukraine invasion, revealing the ethical dilemmas educators face amid propaganda and militarization. Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection CPH DOX 2025 Official Selection Sheffield DocFest 2025 BAFTA Awards 2026 - Winner - Best Documentary Academy Awards 2026 - Winner - Best Documentary Feature

A Few Moments of Happiness (Quelques instants de bonheur) A Few Moments of Happiness (Quelques instants de bonheur)

Director: Shaden Safieddine Tazi

Year: 2026

A young Lebanese filmmaker in Paris watches Lebanon's war unfold on her phone from bed. In a state of paralysis, barely able to get out of bed, she calls her father everyday and begins recording her digital life. Using screen recordings, family voices, and silences, the film intimately portrays a generation witnessing their homeland's destruction remotely. Official Selection Venice International Film Festival 2026 - World premiere

Test Track (Tesztpálya) Test Track (Tesztpálya)

Director: Lydia Cornett

Year: 2026

At dawn in Western Hungary, 14-year-old Hunor and his family use greyhounds to clear wildlife from ZalaZONE, a cutting-edge autonomous vehicle test track. Their traditional methods serve an increasingly militarized future. Official Selection Venice International Film Festival 2026 - World premiere