"Saint Denis", the doc about Belfast’s skate scene

Skate documentaries are normally full of sun, South California's palm trees and dude and bro pronounced with heavy American accent. Going against the flow, Carhartt WIP presented last week "Saint Denis", a documentary in which the accent is Northern Irish and the location is gray Belfast still full of guerrilla scars of the 80s and 90s. The film follows the life of Denis Lynn, one of the most talented skaters of the country.

Denis first picked up a board at the age of five. By his teenage years, he had garnered a reputation as a talented skater and consummate piss-taker. However, his city still bares the scars of years of sectarian division, which has long stunted the growth of Belfast’s skate scene. For Denis, skateboarding not only became his purpose, but also a tool for transcending these surroundings, allowing him to travel the world and throw himself into all manner of unusual situations.

The film is shot and directed by Phil Evans, a regular Carhartt WIP collaborator, who has worked with the brand on previous projects such as “Format Perspective” and “The Panoramic Series”.