... Or the joy of stumbling upon a gem of a skate video by chance, around a random YouTube corner, to then realize - upon further investigation - that it in fact happens to double up as some of the earliest works of a now universally renowned movie director. "MOVIE THIS" was sculpted and polished back in Oslo sometime in prehistory (circa 1991), and Jørgen Johannessen just dug it up for public display. A time capsule that testifies of how sharply up-to-date the locals were at the time (with advanced tricks that really don't blemish from the comparison with then-contemporary U.S. productions such as "1281"), but also of an era at large - maybe representative of the general skate energy in Europe that was before the New World Order.
Jørgen Johannessen, YouTube king of the day, tells the story:
"'MOVIE THIS' (1991) is the very first film by now acclaimed director Joachim Trier ('REPRISE', 'OSLO, AUGUST 31ST', 'THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD'). Trier was a champion skateboarder in Norway around 1989-92, and made two skate videos (including my personal favorite: 'GÆRRALONG GÆNG' from 1992), before moving onto film school and film production.
A lot of the footy in 'MOVIE THIS' is from a local, Oslo skatepark called Rikshallen (the national indoor arena, 1990-1994), where I first met Trier, his crew and several of my best friends today. The place was loosely run by late teens and had pretty much zero rules. The older skaters still treated us kids OK, and I have great memories from the place.
Since the film is now thirty years old, I hit up Trier about putting the whole thing on YouTube, and he was totally cool about it. The line-up in the film is massive, some of the guys are alive and well, some no longer among us. Anyway, it's a great trip down memory lane seeing the film today, as well as it serves as a document over a time and place that no longer exists." - Jørgen Johannessen
