How far can nostalgia for childhood carry us into our futures? With equal fluidity and command, filmmaker Bing Liu trails skateboarders through the streets of Rockford, Illinois, with the ease and speed of one who can only be skating too. Peppered with home video he shot of his friends’ skateboarding antics over more than a decade, Minding the Gap is a fearless, introspective saga of the journey from youth to adulthood. For Liu and his friends Zack and Keire, their violent family histories are as linked to their identities as the hours spent on grinds and ollies. Liu affectingly explores the virtue and damage of their past and present experiences. Keire struggles to be independent in the aftermath of his father’s death, while Zack is a new father and battles alcoholism. Liu respectfully confronts his own mother amid his troubling realization of Zack’s abusive nature. For the trio to heal, Liu films; in filming, they grow. With this maturity arrives the knowledge that friendships can be remembered, if not always kept.  KR

Q&A following screening