POLARIS' NORTH STAR IS SHOWCASING DIVERSITY

Norma Ibarra Discusses Their Latest Full-Length Video Project

I first met Norma Ibarra back in 2019 co-hosting a panel at Pushing Boarders in Malmö, Sweden with Hannah Bailey titled Editor’s Note: Brutally Honest Skate Journalism. Along with Norma, the panel featured Lee Smith, Christian Kerr, Jin Yob Kim, and Arthur Derrien, and gave the audience a behind-the-scenes look at skate journalism and the dynamics, barriers, changing mediums, and most importantly, the future of the whole thing.

Then and now, Norma’s work ethic and drive have been a constant reminder that any perceived barriers or norms in skateboarding exist only to be challenged, broken, and furthered.

With a recently released full-length video project titled Polaris, I took the opportunity to catch up with Norma and learn about the process and objectives for a video they describe as “a one-of-a-kind project featuring diverse communities of non-traditional skateboarders across so-called Canada who are paving the way to inclusion while doing what they love, skateboarding.”

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY NORMA IBARRA

Can you tell me more about the decision and meaning of the name POLARIS?

For the longest time I wanted to tap into video, I got a video camera and started filming, but I wanted to have a goal so I can put proper time and effort and create something special. 

I had an idea to make a collaborative video that showcases communities that are paving the way to inclusivity and diversity in skateboarding. Community groups doing lots of work for the youth, queer, and BIPOC communities of skateboarders around Canada.  I reached out to Emanuele Barbier and Marie Anne Louis-Charles and together we worked on the project. When we started the project we had a different name but realized it was already been used, so one day they both suggested Polaris which was a no-brainer. 

Polaris is the name of stars,  for centuries, stars have served as guides for people. We believe the communities in this video are like the stars, they are acting as guides for the shift we want to see in skateboarding. 

Yom Tong - Takeover Skateboarding- Vancouver, BC, Canada

I thought it was striking to start the video with a dedication and acknowledgment of the land this was filmed on. Can you talk more about that and why it was important to you?

Indigenous people have been the caretakers and stewards of the lands where we filmed the video.  In the last few years, I have made a big effort to understand what being an uninvited settler means and how can I support the indigenous communities of Canada. These lands were taken away from indigenous people, and acknowledging them is the least we can all do, we all benefit from the lands, and I thought it is very important to share the knowledge with others too.  The acknowledgment is intended to recognize the Indigenous peoples who have lived where we now work and play as well as to show respect and create collaborative and accountable relationships with the communities. 

Cousins Skateboarding Calgary, Alberta, Canada

How long did this take to create from start to finish?

The idea came about around the beginning of 2022 the filming and editing happened between Summer and Fall of 2022. 

Can you talk about the positives and negatives of filming an independent video? Obviously, budget is always a concern but there seems to be a lot of freedom in getting to make all the creative decisions on your own.

When I first had the idea of this project I wanted to go with the flow but I also wanted to find ways to collaborate with others and break away from the individualistic approach this is when I reached out to Marie Ann and Emanuelle to work on the project. Together we pitched to Vans and had a lot of support and freedom to put our idea to life.

This video was collaborative so had a lot of people involved in terms of skaters but also filmers and photographers, so being able to pick what clips and photos were going to make it into the final selection was one of the hardest things.  Shout out to Emanule for working so hard on the editing. Regarding budgets We were blessed to have support from Vans, I don’t think if we had that we would have been able to cover as many cities and people and be able to pay some money to the creatives involved. 

Vans love the concept and they invited us to work on this project to be released during the House of Vans Toronto which was super exciting. Shout out to Annie Guglia for advocating for us and for all the support provided for this project.   

Planche Collective, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

I noticed that, unlike many modern videos, you chose to stray from follow filming. Can you talk about that choice and how you approached this project aesthetically?

This video is a collective vision, when we went to each community we shared the resources we got to hire the up-and-coming videographers and filmers from the community groups, we wanted to keep things simple and each filmer did what they were the most comfortable with, some of these folks have never had the opportunity to showcase their work for a brand so it was exciting to include more creatives who can contribute to the video and redistribute the funding and opportunities to more folks.

A lot of the filming also happened in group sessions so having long lens gave us the opportunity to showcase and capture more folks in a way. 

You captured a lot of candid moments but also, moments in skating where you have a bunch of folks skating one spot one after the other. Can you talk about how you executed and even directed the video and how you made those moments happen?

After we picked the 4 cities we reached out to each community group, we shared the idea of the video and then we asked them to help us select spots they wanted to skate for the video, each community leader put a group of skaters together as well as a list of spots they wanted to showcase.  Then we spend a weekend with each community group to gather film.  It was a very short time but with the resources we had we managed to get wonderful stuff and create something that is meaningful for us. 

This video also has a giving back component, we also got photographers from each group involved, and we put a zine together where we give information about the lands we filmed and the work of the community groups.  When you buy the zine the money goes to support the community groups.

Orby Aka Aunty Skates Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The video is packed with so many personalities. Can you talk about the friends you made along the way filming and creating this as well as the core crew that made it?

I feel really fortunate to have had the chance to produce this project but most special to meet new folks from all of the communities, some of these folks I already had the privileged to know, others I only knew from social media,  but in other cities like Calgary or Montreal I made so many new friends that are now part of my skate family.  The personalities you see are a representation of what skateboarding in Canada looks like, the video is showcasing the following communities:

VANCOUVER

Takeover Skateboarding

Nations Skate Youth

CALGARY

100% Skate Club

Cousins Skateboarding

TORONTO

Queer Skate Toronto

Nahh Ima Skate

MONTREAL

Planche Collective

Vagabones

I think the skateboarding industry is very used to only showing the pros, or usually celebrating the top skaters or the never been done type of tricks, I wanted to break all those rules, to show creativity to show community and unity in a video despite being an NBD or not.  Skateboarding is not only about the top skateboarding is way more than that and this was my way to show that. 

To that point, the highlight of the video is the diversity. How did you approach editing and creating a video where there is such a spectrum of different skating, abilities, and styles?

This is what we wanted, a video that is relatable to all sorts of skaters, all levels, all bodies all abilities but as well a video that a nonskater can watch and feel like they want to give skateboarding a try. 

For this video the main editor was Emanuelle Barbier they spent an incredible amount of time sorting thru clips, and editing since we had so many filmers, skaters, and locations, it was a lot of work.  So really Emanuele is the MVP as they offered to tap into the editing and take ownership of it.   As per editing the video is sorted by City and community groups and we also made sure we picked music from people involved with the communities and then that was how editing happened. 

James Kwaksistala, British Columbia Canada

What does community mean to you?

Community to me means a group of people with similar bonds,  values, and interests collaborating towards the same goals and dreams. 

When I think of community I think of coming together, support, safety, welcoming, and belonging.