Push Play

We see skateboarding as a refuge, an escape and an identity. But it is also an intrinsically creative endeavour. The Southbank Skate Space is a global destination for skaters, with a local community that has made a significant cultural impact. While the undercroft – the space neighbouring BFI Southbank and under the Southbank Centre, which skateboarders have made their home – marks its 50th anniversary, we celebrate the ongoing relationship between skateboarding, film and creativity.

Skateboarding continues to be a rich subject for film. In turn, film has inspired skaters and artists to explore their own creativity and ways of seeing the world and their place in it. We invite audiences inside BFI Southbank, and those who occupy the skate space outside, to share this exploration together.

Ben Luxford, BFI Director of UK Wide Audiences, and Siobhan Browne, Film Studies Lecturer, season curators

Skate 50 – See an exhibition telling the story of London's original skate space over the past half century, through photography, audio and video.