The man behind Attack of Danger Bay, the international longboarding race held the May long weekend in Pender Harbour, is featured in a new documentary film premiering tonight (May 13) in Vancouver.
Featured as part of the DOXA Documentary Film Festival (www.doxafestival.ca), Highway Gospel is a fascinating, in-depth look at the lives of three men who have devoted their lives to skateboarding and longboarding.
One of those men is 30-year-old Vancouver resident Bricin 'Striker' Lyons, credited as the catalyst to the recent explosion in popularity of downhill skateboarding. Lyons travels the world announcing skate races. When not organizing competitions, Lyons works part-time for Canada Post and recently became a dad.
Lyons' Attack of Danger Bay is the largest longboarding race in the world. Now in its 10th year, Attack of Danger Bay features live music entertainment, cash prizes and as many as 400 competitors - some of whom hold world records in the sport. More details are available at www.coastlongboarding.com.
Highway Gospel, showing at 9 p.m. at the Rio Theatre, 1660 E. Broadway, weaves together two Canadian stories of skateboarding's true believers.
On the B.C. coast, the sport of longboarding evolves from a rag-tag group of daredevils willing to risk insane speeds, gnarly turns and possible arrest to a slightly less rag-tag group who help make longboarding legal and build a vibrant community in the process. In Ottawa, Claude Regnier, a world champion slalom skateboarder in the 1980s, is trying to make a comeback after "dying" on the operating table during open-heart surgery.
Shot in a cinema vérité style with intimate and candid moments that may lead some viewers to think this is a mockumentary, Highway Gospel is a humorous and at times heartbreaking multi-character documentary that strikes an intricate balance between rowdy and insightful while serving as a reminder that heartfelt stories can also be hilarious.
To view the trailer for Highway Gospel, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=grmOPYCY8t0.
-Submitted
