Vans Skateboarding announces this week an upcoming skate film by acclaimed filmmaker Greg Hunt. The company will present the new skate video, titled Alight, OK, that will feature global signature team riders Elijah Berle and Gilbert Crockett.
Hunt brought to life Vans’ first full-length skateboarding video, PROPELLER, and now delivers another masterpiece in Alright, OK.
Elijah shares the screen with Vans teammate and Richmond native, Gilbert Crockett, whose contrasting style form like yin to yang. With two distinct personas and influences shaped by their hometown origins, Elijah and Gilbert create a harmony of east and west coast qualities, each bred from tough work ethic and unique throwback style that’s all their own.
In the first year of filming, Elijah went to war with his board to film this part, which was originally set to go live in early 2019. Suffering through injuries, unsuccessful tricks and mounting pressures from every direction, Elijah found the determination to emerge—and triumph—from his dry spell.
“Now [I am] skating every day and just being on my skateboard feels so good. I just had to break that barrier of feeling like shit and start to feel good and confident,” Elijah reflected. “I had to push my boundaries. And now it’s addicting. I don’t want to do anything else besides prepare myself for the next battle.”
Gilbert related a similar lesson from skating: “That’s what it comes down to. You need to just breathe and get through all the bullshit to get to the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “Skating is like an outlet for some turmoil, or loss, or whatever you’re dealing with. It’s like a release valve.”
Hunt reunites the two for the first time since the release of Vans PROPELLER in 2015, finding skate spots from all over the globe in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, New York and their home states of Virginia and California.
In advance of the global premiere, a limited-edition photo book signed and produced by Greg Hunt was revealed this week, featuring behind-the-scene vignettes of the making of Alright, OK. To see the images, read exclusive athlete interviews and learn more about the film, visit Vans.com/alrightok.
