When director Sasha Rainbow heard “Alpha Female,” the latest single from Wild Beasts’ album Boy King, she immediately thought of India where an explosive skateboarding scene is empowering a generation of young women. “In places like Afghanistan, Cambodia, and India, skating has not been solidified as a male sport and, therefore, has had a massive cultural impact, teaching values about self-empowerment through skateboarding,” Rainbow explained in a statement. The video follows Atita Verghese, India’s first professional female skateboarder, along with skateboarders from Girl Skate India and the Holystoked Skate Crew.
“Sasha told me that in India time has a different quality; it slows down when you move through it as if made of thicker stuff,” Wild Beasts’ singer Hayden Thorpe explained. “The skateboarding girls and women in ‘Alpha Female’ appear to have found a sublime vehicle for slicing through time more quickly. They are in a hurry, speeding time up, pulling their generation along.”
Rainbow filmed in Bangalore, India, and was so impressed with the growing community of female skateboarders that she plans to return to film a proper documentary.
“Because of the current political climate in the West and attitudes of intolerance and sexism across the world, I wanted to create a video that celebrates everyone who takes the risk to be themselves,” she explained. “The Holystoked Skate Crew and the girls that I worked with are an inspiration that cuts through age, gender and class barriers. I wanted to commemorate this incredible moment in India and show how massive cultural change can start with just one person.”