Skaters, gamers, nostalgic 90s kids, as well as anyone else who has conquered the imaginative skating challenges of this iconic game franchise, or (nearly) smashed their gaming device while trying, have a solid reason to be excited. On February 29, a documentary about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater will roll onto screens for the first time at the Mammoth Film Festival in California.
Named after one of the franchise’s musical staples – Goldfinger’s Superman, the documentary is called Pretending I’m a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story. It has been in the works since 2016, and after its 2017 failed Indiegogo campaign, it got independent financing by D’Amato Productions, as in former Neversoft producer Ralph D’Amato, who joined forces with Swedish fimmaker Ludvig Gür to bring us this project.
To make this documentary tribute to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater all-the-more fascinating, it won’t just focus on the franchise itself, but its cultural significance, marked by its instrumental role in reviving skating culture and bringing it into the mainstream, at a time when it couldn’t have been further away from it.
The documentary features in-depth interviews with Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen, who will also be at the screening and take part in a panel discussion after it, as well as other skateboard legends and staples of the franchise like Steve Caballero and Chad Muska.
And to put an exclamation point on the authenticity and nostalgia that the prospect of this Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater documentary is brimming with, the afterparty for the premiere will feature The Downhill Jam, the franchise’s cover band which is named after a level in the game, set in Hoover Dam.
