In Search of the Miraculous

Quand "Strongest of the strange" est sorti en 2005, jamais un film de skateboard n'avait été aussi personnel. Le rapport entre la pratique et la vie intime n'avait jamais été évoquée, et ça ne l'a pas été plus par la suite. Ça peut paraitre étonnant parce qu'on ne cesse de se masturber en pensant que le skateboard, ce n'est pas du sport, c'est de l'art.

C'est peut-être vrai quand on voit les pratiquants dans la rue. Mais quand on regarde objectivement le monde de la vidéo, c'est souvent la logique mercantile et/ou l'ego qui tire le skate. Les vidéos de skate sont des trucs intéressant à regarder pour la performance, mais aussi soignés soient-ils, ça reste un moyen de promouvoir une marque, ou de se faire connaitre, ou de gagner de l'argent (ouais... pas beaucoup), ou au mieux un moyen d'expression dans certains cas. Je pense à Josh Stewart et ses Static, mais d'autres sont dans cette optique.

Il y a toujours une dimension artistique dans les vidéo de skate, et une partie d'investissement personnel de la part du réalisateur. Heureusement. Par exemple, Pacôme Gabrillagues et sa Crosswalk : il a un savoir-faire exceptionnel à partager et des idées très personnelles de ce qu'il montre, mais ce n'est pas son âme qu'il montre, il retranscrit sa vision grâce à son expérience et son imagination. C'est déjà énorme, à vrai dire, à l'heure de Youtube et de l'immédiateté.

Pontus Alv prend autrement plus de risques, pourtant. C'est comme s'il jouait sa vie à travers ses films. Dans les deux sens de l'expression. Puisqu'il la met en scène. Comme une fiction documentaire. Ce qui explique probablement pourquoi "Strongest of the strange" est la seule vidéo de skate qui puisse être émouvante.

Pontus arrive à montrer ce qu'il y a d'artistique dans la PRATIQUE du skate. Autrement qu'en montrant la danse urbaine à l'état brut, comme c'est généralement le cas, perdant au passage ce qui est constitutif de l'émotion. C'est une grosse mise en péril et on doit une reconnaissance éternelle à ce type pour avoir su raconter ça avec des images. Parce que, quelque part, c'est une des seules raisons d'être fier d'être skateur aujourd'hui, sous les yeux du grand-public.

Voici la présentation du nouveau film par John Dahlquist.

"In Search of the Miraculous
– an introduction to the latest film by Pontus Alv

Words by: John Dahlquist

It has been five years since Pontus Alv's film the Strongest of the Strange (http://www.myspace.com/thestrongestofthestrangesoundtrack) came out. Even before the premier Pontus had already started filming his next project, which you are about to get a small glimpse of. Hard work behind and in front of the camera, the unconditional love for skateboarding, his scene and the DIY culture is slowly forming into yet another masterpiece signed Pontus Alv (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3zYa13jGTA) .

This time around filming has mostly revolved around Scania, the southern part of Sweden, where Pontus and his friends resides. Since most spots where killed, destroyed and sometimes torn down in the first film a lot of work, man hours and car rides has gone into digging deep into the Scanian hummus to search for and to create new possibilities. No stones have been left unturned and a lot of times they have been pushed together and gotten concrete poured all over them to create new spots and opportunities in a true DIY manner. When most skaters go to Barcelona and other thirteen-spots-to-the-dozen-cities to film their parts in an environment far from their natural habitat Pontus, Johan Linö-Waad (http://semesterskate.com/team/johan-lino-waad/) and Danijel Todorovic has stayed on their turf to do the most of what is theirs, their hometown Malmö. The aim has been to show that it is possible to make things happen anywhere and that lack of spots breeds creativity. Creativity does not just come across in the skating but also in all the DIY spots that popped up as an effect of Strongest of the Strange and as an alternative to the public parks for the great masses.

During the making of the Strongest Pontus made up with his father's death through old super 8 tapes and his fathers words of wisdom. The whole film was Pontus' way of showing his dad that he became the skater and independent adult his dad always pushed him to be. During the making of this film Pontus's grandfather and grandmother both passed away and therefore this time around Pontus once again deals with life and death and the meaning of it all. This effected the film as it is hard to make a difference between Pontus private life and his work. Most of the time they are so tightly combined it is impossible to see where one ends and the other one starts.

As the film only consists of skaters that have a personal relation to Pontus, his scene and the world he creates through his films, the movie is a time document and a portrait of a scene and perspective of skateboarding signed Pontus Alv with all what that includes. There has been no team, money or contracts to push or force the skaters to deliver. As most videos show a skateboard team put together by contracts this one shows friends skating together fuel only by the drive to push the envelope and the sheer love for their skateboard scene. A scene is never a geographic place but a living organism created by the skaters who get involved and make things happen. As they go along like alchemists, making gold of nothing but some sheets of plywood, bags of concrete and a lot of creativity magic happens. And Pontus has been around to document it with his death lens. These last five years have been spent, without a day lost, on just that – Searching for the Miraculous."

Sa part dans Spektra


Pontus par Johan Sunden



Pontus par Nils Svensson