Signal Hill Speed Run

Reviewed by Thomas Gaglio

Title:  Signal Hill Speed Run

Director:  Jon Carnoy

Viewed at the Lobero Theater

SBIFF 2013

This documentary about down hill skateboarding wasn’t about fancy tricks or showing off, it was about going as fast as you can on a board with wheels four inches above the street at fifty miles per hour.  Director Jon Carnoy and the support he received from the pioneers who braved this very dangerous new down hill race, were all present at the Lobero Theater.  Jimmy Mahoney who lives in Santa Barbara is founder and director of the S.B Surfing Museum and started the Signal Hill Speed Run in the Nineteen seventies.  New sporting events like this one were taking shape without the normal funding from companies that help in the development of emerging sports.  New ways of taking your life to the limit were taking to the sky, sea and mountains, all without burning fossil fuels.  Documenting  human powered  activities that were not controlled by city officials were being created . with the affordability, Filmed with 16 mm, Super 8 and video tape allowed these low budget sporting to be covered. Thanks to Film Festivals like the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, we see though a window in time the creativity of California outsiders making history.