Coming-of-age flick Skateland is lighter than your typical drama but more serious than a mere comedy.  It occupies that amorphous area between childhood and the adult world, told through a pack of friends in a small East Texas town.  And there’s a roller rink, of course.  Skateland has two more screenings at SIFF: today at 2:30 p.m. at the Uptown, and June 6 at the Kirkland Performance Hall.  Yesterday I spoke with the film’s writer-director, cinematographer, and editor.

I was surprised to hear about how different the first draft of the Skateland script started out compared to the final film—that it was going to be a comedy about a roller skater trying to qualify for the Moscow Olympics.

Anthony Burns, director: Early early on, [co-writers and producers] Heath and Brandon Freeman had an idea, a comedy about this kid who worked at a roller skating rink who wanted to get into the Olympics.  Obviously, it’s a complete fantasy–there’s no roller skating in the Olympics, but that was the movie.  And that didn’t last very long; we ended up wanting to do a much more serious film.  But that was the initial idea that brought us together, and it evolved really quickly into something totally different.

So did you used to go to roller rinks as a kid?

A:  Everybody did that I grew up with.  In Longview, Texas, where I went to high school, the roller rink was called Skateland.  And a lot of the reactions from people who have seen the film is that they had a Skateland in their hometown too. 

Peter Simonite, cinematographer: There’s one in just about every small town. 

A: Lots of people had their first kiss during a lock-in.  Your parents dropped you off and you get to go off and be a kid.  In the early ’80s, skating rinks were much more popular than now.  That’s where high school kids would go to hang out, play pool, skate, smoke, drink a little underage.  Some skating rinks are still around, but the crowd has changed. It’s much younger now.  

Robert Hoffman, editor:  In the film, Skateland as a place represents Ritchie’s holding on to his past, having nostalgia for it, not taking responsibility, and not being an adult.  And now Skateland’s closing, and so he’s got to let go of his past.

A: Skateland closing is a metaphor for things changing. Times are changing, his life is changing….

Does the real Skateland still exist?  I looked up the rink I went to as a kid, and it was torn down in 2003 to build condos.

A:  Skateland in Longview, the building is still there, at least as of a year ago, but it was being sold, and it wasn’t operational.   Longview’s a small town, so there’s no condos there yet. 

One of the most essential aspects of the film was trying to get the era right, in terms of the music and the clothes.  How did that all come together?

A: It’s not in-your-face ’80s.  People kinda dress the same now as they did then in East Texas.  The hair was actually really important, and the makeup.  With period pieces, you’re going to spend a little more money and time to make sure you’re accurate.  It was challenging at times.

I liked that it was authentic without being over the top.  It wasn’t a punchline every time someone walked in and you got a load of their outfit.

R:  There are movies that take place in other decades, where it seems to be that’s what the story’s about.  When in fact, this film could take place twenty years from now and still have the same story.

A: But we love that changing time of the early ’80s: the women’s lib movement, the way the economy reflects what’s going on now, the MTV pop appeal exploding, the music…. We were big fans of John Hughes, and this is kind of an homage to him, to create something that felt like it could’ve been shot back then.  And we also felt like there hadn’t been a throwback movie that takes place in the early ’80s that was done correctly, that felt real. 

R: One of the things I enjoy about watching it is that it feels like it could’ve been made in the early ’80s, and now we’re just discovering it for the first time.

P: I think that was always Tony’s intentions: that it wouldn’t hit you over the head with its ’80s-ness.  It would just feel like a lost film from the ’80s.

An embarrassment of cinematic riches awaits film fest attendees this Memorial Day Weekend, so let’s just hop right in, shall we? For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations, which cost more.

Visionaries: Jonas Mekas and the (Mostly) American Avant-Garde Cinema  Ace documentarian Chuck Workman serves up a great primer on Underground Cinema, with Anthology Archives curator and filmmaker Mekas functioning as a charming epicenter. Marilyn Brakhage (widow of underground film legend Stan Brakhage) and Workman will be attending. (May 28, 4:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

Wheedle’s Groove  Seattle’s long-overlooked 1970s funk/soul scene gets some overdue props in this documentary, with everyone from Quincy Jones to Mark Arm to Sir Mix-a-Lot weighing in. (May 28, 4:30 p.m. @ Everett Performing Arts Center; May 30, 9:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema–the latter screening is sold-out, but rush tickets may still be available)

Farewell  In SIFF’s Centerpiece Gala film, an unassuming French engineer working in Moscow gets pulled into big time international espionage, thanks to a high-level comrade disaffected with the course of communism. The spycraft hovers on the edge of untrained sloppiness, infusing the whole endeavor with a growing sense of dread as the consequences of their subterfuge take a toll on their personal lives. The build to the suspenseful finale is a slow burn, but well earned. (May 29, 6:30 p.m. @ The Egyptian; May 31, 3:00 p.m. @ Everett; June 12, 6:30 p.m. @ Uptown)

Cane Toads: The Conquest–in 3D  They’re louder, they’re fatter, they’re wartier, they’re peskier…and they’re in eye-popping 3D, for God’s sake! (May 28, 7:00 p.m. @ The Neptune)

Restrepo  Described as a non-fiction companion piece to The Hurt Locker, this doc follows the progress of several U.S. soldiers doing battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan’s peril-fraught Korengal Valley. (May 28, 6:30 p.m @ Harvard Exit; May 29, 3:45 p.m. @ Harvard Exit)

Southern District  Director Juan Carlos Valdivia tells a Bolivian Upstairs, Downstairs tale with languid circular shots and a largely amateur cast. The trailer portends a most visually stunning feature. (May 28, 6:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place; May 29, 1:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place)

The Hedgehog  Cute but imperfect film version of the popular novel about a twelve-year-old French girl with a video camera and a suicide pact with herself, the apartment building’s reclusive janitor, and a mysterious new neighbor. [spoiler: attempts to gain gravitas with a surprise death] (May 28, 7:00 p.m. @ Uptown; May 30, 4:00 p.m. @ Uptown)

Senior Prom  World premiere of Mountlake Terrace high school student’s feature film; take that, Shoreline/Shorecrest lipdubbers! (May 28, 7:00 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema; June 1, 4:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

Ride, Rise, Roar  David Byrne and Brian Eno present their musical stylings in a live setting. Given that Byrne’s last foray into feature-length concert films was one of the greatest ever made, it’s understandable that expectations run high. (May 28, 9:30 p.m. @ The Egyptian; May 29, 1:30 p.m. @ The Egyptian)

Winter’s Bone  A young girl searches for her ne’er-do-well dad in the Missouri Ozarks and discovers lies, secrets, and peril in this much-buzzed-about, Sundance-winning drama-thriller. (May 28, 7:00 p.m. @ The Egyptian; May 30, 1:30 p.m. @ The Egyptian)

RoboGeisha  Sibling rivalry between mechanically-augmented Geisha Girls; enough arterial spray to put the Icelandic volcano to shame; Japanese robo-chicks with circular saws popping from their mouths; swordfights by the score; and acid-spurting mammaries? If that doesn’t read MUST-SEE in bold letters, you’ve stumbled into the wrong SunBreak columnist’s SIFF recommendation list by mistake, Bucky. (May 28, midnight @ The Egyptian; June 8, 10:00 p.m. @ The Neptune)

Life During Wartime  Todd Solondz gilds his sixth film (a semi-sequel to 1998’s Happiness) with an interesting cast (Allison Janney, Paul “Pee Wee Herman” Reubens, Ally Sheedy) and a reportedly more-accessible timbre; though with Solondz, “accessible” is likely a relative term. (May 29, 8:30 p.m. @ Uptown; May 31, 8:45 p.m. @ Harvard Exit)

Amer  It’s hard to figure how this strange art-film disguised as a giallo will play with a Midnight Adrenaline crowd. It’s likely too deliberately-paced and arty for cheap-thrill-seeking midnighters, yet too odd and gruesome for the arthouse set. If you’re in the right mindset, though, it’s utterly captivating. (May 29, midnight @ The Egyptian; May 30, 9:30 p.m. @ The Egyptian)

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls  The one-sentence description on the SIFF website pretty much clinches it: “Finally, a documentary film about yodeling lesbian twins.” (May 30, 7:00 p.m. @ The Egyptian; May 31, 11:00 a.m. @ The Egyptian)

Gerrymandering  The time-(dis)honored political tradition of carving out voting districts to favor specific candidates is put under the magnifying glass in this documentary. (May 30, 6:45 p.m. @ Harvard Exit; May 31, 11:00 a.m. @ Harvard Exit)

Marwencol  Truth is stranger–and more emotionally resonant–than fiction in this documentary about a man who works through a memory-destroying and nearly fatal assault by constructing dioramas with GI Joe figures. (May 30, 4:15 p.m. @ The Egyptian; May 31, 6:15 p.m. @ The Egyptian)

Some Days Are Better Than Others James Mercer (the Shins) and Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney) make their surprisingly successful acting debut in this mildly mumblecore meditation set in Portland. He slacks between terrible temp jobs; she volunteers at an animal shelter and dreams that a reality television audition might salvage her from obscure heartbreak. These plots tangentially linger along with those of an elderly experimental filmmaker and a quiet thrift store employee shaken by a particular donation. (May 31, 9:00 p.m. @ The Egyptian; June 1, 4:00 p.m. @ The Egyptian)