Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)
Skateistan began as a skate school in Kabul, in 2007, and grew into a multinational educational initiative. It focuses on recruiting girls from impoverished neighborhoods to not only teach them to skateboard, but to help them gain courage and life skills that will transcend skateboarding and the classroom, to help them thrive and adapt to the challenges that lie ahead. Over the course of the school year, the girls grow and become empowered through the joy of skateboarding, and the warmth and inspiration of the women who teach them.
The film is only available in the Student Verzió program.
Carol Dysinger is known for her feature-length documentary, Camp Victory, Afghanistan, which premiered in competition at SXSW 2010, and played at the Museum of Modern Art Doc Fortnight and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. Prior to directing, Dysinger edited many documentaries and features. As a screenwriter in Los Angeles, she co-wrote several scripts for Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox and Sam Goldwyn Productions. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and is currently developing a semi-autobiographical interactive piece depicting her experience with war.