As world populations boom and cities expand, many of us now live in concrete jungles with little access to nature. Amidst this urban sprawl, a movement is emerging to reclaim and revitalise our green spaces. Not only do these projects transform urban environments, making them beautiful places to live, but they also directly improve air quality, aid biodiversity, and build joyful community connections. It’s subversion through the scattering of seeds.
Our film will capture this movement through the lens of late ’90s skate edits. Skating and gardening may not seem like natural bedfellows, but capturing it using the same DIY counterculture aesthetic as those videos gets at the essence of guerrilla gardening. Skating has a long history as a tool for protest and activism, offering a unique blend of art, rebellion, and community. Once skaters reclaimed urban spaces as stages for expression, now gardeners are transforming them into the frontlines for protest and action. Why not combine the two?
Our two-and-a-half-minute short will follow a group of skaters as they scatter native seeds and plant pollinator-friendly plants, all while doing tricks along the way. It will utilise a fast-paced editing and a punchy soundtrack to imbue the film with energy and urgency; we will use mixed media animations to visualise the potential transformations we can all have on our urban environments if we take action into our own hands. We want the film to be a call to arms, inspiring its viewers to join the movement and get GUERRILLA GARDENING.
Directed by Miles Roberts Cinematography by Ali Mohamed Additional Camera by Mariana Rosteck Produced by Eefaa Hassan, Miles Roberts and Mariana Rosteck Editing by Mariana Rosteck and Eefaa Hassan Mix Media by Eefaa Hassan Music by Elias Vasilioudes Nikolaides