Film phase:Completed
SYNOPSIS
When America’s last standing roller rinks are threatened with closure, a community of thousands battle in a racially charged environment to save an underground subculture–-one that has remained undiscovered by the mainstream for generations, yet has given rise to some of the world’s greatest musical talent.
United Skates participated in the 2016 Diversity Fellows Initiative (past program).
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
Tina Brown is a Vietnamese-Australian filmmaker with a successful career in the film, television and commercial industry. Tina co-produced Dear Mandela, a feature-length documentary set in the slums of Durban which received an “I Believe In You” grant from Chicken & Egg Pictures, as well as support from Sundance Institute and many others. Now predominantly working in sports production, Tina’s work includes features and commercials for Red Bull, Puma, Gatorade, IBM, Levi’s, Schick, Izod, MTV, NBC, ESPN, and Fox Sports; as well as sporting events from figure skating features for the Winter Olympics, to the Super Bowl, Tour de France and US Open Tennis. Prior to moving to New York, Tina created marketing and PR film campaigns for the distribution arm of major and independent studios including Paramount, Universal, MGM, DreamWorks, Miramax, Pixar, Disney, and Village Roadshow.
For over six years, Dyana Winkler worked for both the Sundance Film Institute and Tribeca Film Institute, reviewing and deliberating upon thousands of narrative and documentary grant submissions and honing her skills as filmmaker. Dyana also programmed for the Outfest Film Festival and frequently screens submissions for Chicken & Egg and the Sundance Documentary Film Program. Dyana holds a B.A in political science and economics from Mount Holyoke College and an MFA in screenwriting, directing and production, from EICAR in Paris. Fluent in French and Tibetan, Dyana spent nearly a decade living internationally, where she interviewed then recent refugees from Tibet for local TV stations and directed and produced a short documentary film on South Asian orphanages, which aired on BBC (Bhutanese Broadcasting).
NOW PLAYING
United States premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2018, and is now available on HBO.