THE STORY – In Skopje, Northern Macedonia, 11-year-old Adela and her older sister Zara share a deep bond shaped by navigating two contradictory worlds. At school, they are typical, rebellious teens with skateboards, social media, crop tops, and boyfriends. After school, in a quiet and disciplined mode, they help their mother with cleaning jobs to make ends meet. Already barely scraping by in their Romani neighborhood, the family is pushed even further when it becomes clear their father has abandoned them. With options dwindling, their mother turns to her older, more traditionally minded sister-in-law, who proposes they take Zara to the Bulgarian Bridal Market and marry her off for a fee. Refusing to accept she could lose her sister to this antiquated custom, Adela becomes determined to find another way.
THE CAST – Efkjar Abaz, Simonida Selimovič, Džefrina Jašari & Ganimet Abdula
THE TEAM – Dina Duma (Director/Writer), Lidija Mojsovska & Teona Strugar Mitevska (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 82 Minutes
One of the greatest joys of cinema is the ability to gain a clear insight into other people, specifically those in other parts of the world. We all get so used to the traditions and expectations of where we’re born and raised, and it can be difficult to truly understand and internalize how people across the globe grow up differently. Thankfully, films such as “Skateboarding is Not For Girls” can offer us a window into the problems faced by other cultures. Sure, we can read about them, know about them, but true cinema with true authorship can really make us feel what it’s like.
The film, Macedonian filmmaker Dina Duma’s sophomore feature, follows two sisters facing different hardships of youth in the Romani neighborhoods of North Macedonia. The younger sister tries to enter skateboarding culture in a society that views that as an exclusively male activity, while the older sister is married off against her will for money. The two stories consistently overlap, not just in their familial connection, but in how they paint a portrait of a conservative, patriarchal culture where women are expected to follow very rigid expectations and not have too much of a free spirit in interests or careers. The sadness that runs beneath both sisters and their mother, who is constantly doing whatever she can to get money for their family, really colors how women in the community are treated.
Duma does a good job at communicating these issues patiently; the societal issues creep up on the characters slowly until they’re unavoidable. The juxtaposition of what the younger sister Adela is told she can’t do, with what the older sister Zara is forced to do, is a pretty simple depiction of what’s wrong in the community. Perhaps the film could’ve been a little less simple, as the ideas are really strong, and the dynamic is well realized, but it doesn’t go as far as one would hope to feel a full emotional catharsis by the end. The skateboard motif, despite being the film’s titular conflict, comes and goes throughout, and the shift between the three female leads isn’t the smoothest, leaving none of them feeling as fully realized as they could be. The mother feels sad about how her children are being forced to be raised, particularly about having to sell off her oldest into marriage. Still, this friction isn’t subtle or distant enough, nor is it delved into enough to leave an impact.
This isn’t to say the film is entirely ineffective; there are plenty of great ideas and moments that really show promise for Duma as a filmmaker. The pacing is perhaps the film’s biggest enemy: even with an eighty-minute runtime, it feels far longer than it is, yet it doesn’t feel properly explored by the end either. More time with each of the three central characters, and more to establish their stories as overlapping individual conflicts, would’ve greatly enriched the film’s themes. The way it sort of slides in and out of the different conflicts feels more haphazard than intentional, not naturalistic enough to justify its often confused fluidity. It’s a shame, cause the threads themselves and those central performances are quite strong, but the order and depth in which they are explored could’ve been rearranged to create a stronger overall package.
In terms of performances, the trio at the center really sells the film and each of their individual plights. Efkjar Abaz, the eleven-year-old daughter with dreams of life on the board, maintains innocence while also displaying a very truthful, performative maturity to fit in with the older figures in her life. Her confusion about the restrictive world she’s being thrust into is a great audience surrogate and really emphasizes the sadness of what she’s realizing is the status quo. Džefrina Jašari, as the older sister, best captures the family’s pain, most likely because she had to provide the most by the end, in a forced marriage to raise money for her family. The outwardly joyous wedding, paired with her horrified look, too young to be in this situation and fully aware of it, is very striking, both visually and dramatically. Lastly, Simonida Selimovič, as the mother who captures both her own pain and also the vicarious pain she feels for her children, does so incredibly effectively. Moments of silence throughout the film really highlight how expressive she is as a performer, and the chemistry across the three feels very authentically lived in.
This is only Dina Duma’s second film; her first, “Sisterhood,” is similarly short at ninety minutes, and quite frankly, the themes she’s working with, and characters she creates, are so abundant with humanity that it feels like a disservice for her and these stories to be working in such strict runtimes. Obviously, longer films don’t inherently make better films, and perhaps what is here is all the juice this idea has for her. Still, it really feels there is more to chew on beneath the surface, and any issues that arise from the film as is could easily be ironed out with more time. The skateboarding motif is the least developed, particularly given the film’s titular concept. That topic is also tied to how the film briefly addresses the internet and how the internet’s curiosity and influence can be a cure of sorts for an oppressive society. However, for such a big idea, it’s rarely addressed, which sadly feels like another missed opportunity.
For a window into an oppressive society and the harmful beliefs and practices that keep it from evolving, “Skateboarding is Not For Girls” certainly serves as an important capsule, with strokes of very strong filmmaking guiding it along. While it doesn’t fully reach its potential as an unforgettable piece of storytelling, its performances and clear central vision make it a worthwhile watch.
