Eighteen-year-old Nelson filmmaker Spencer Legebokoff just graduated from high school, but he’s already hard at work on his second film Stigma, following the release of his first skate film Locals Only.
Legebokoff spent part of his summer filming in Ottawa and Montreal, and plans to continue filming in the Kootenays, Vancouver, Calgary and San Francisco before calling it a wrap.
“I wanted to do something more raw, like an art piece, gritty,” Legebokoff told the Star.
“When I look back on my first film and the premiere at Ripping Giraffe, I’m so happy I did it — 100 people came out, I was so surprised — but I think my filmmaking was still immature at that time. I’m going to do things a little more officially this time, make my DVDs a little more legit.”
Legebokoff is aiming for a premiere date of fall or early winter 2016, and plans to have another screening at Ripping Giraffe Boardshop.
“Skateboarders have a huge stereotype on who we are. Like we might be shady, but no matter where you go, skateboarders are people like anyone else. The fact that we’re all equal is a kind of cool thing to celebrate,” he said.
Legebokoff said when he first went out east to stay with a friend and work on the film, he skateboarded alone.
“I wasn’t even filming at first. I was just observing what was going on around me and trying to find inspiration in little things.”
He was surprised to find his expectations of city skaters were wrong.
“In their mannerisms they’re a lot more modest, and I thought that was interesting that people in such a big city would be more modest. But there’s a stigma on what those type of people are like too.”