Céline Roustan
Joe Buffalo has made quite the name for himself as a pro skateboarder. A survivor of the infamous Indian Residential School system, whose motto was “Kill the Indian, save the man”, he has made quite the journey to overcome an inconceivable amount of trauma stemming from those years. In Amar Chebib’s 16-min documentary (named after the charismatic skater), he shares his incredibly empowering story, painting a deeply touching portrait of a man who was saved by his passion and literally captures the spirit behind the importance of always getting up, whenever you fall.
“I knew his story had the potential to touch very disparate audiences”
Chebib and Buffalo had known each other for quite some time, from the skateboarding scene, before the idea to make a film together even sparked. It was only turning pro in 2019 that made Chebib realize: “Joe had overcome tremendous obstacles to get where he is and I knew his story had the potential to touch very disparate audiences”. As a Syrian-Canadian, there were facets of Buffalo’s experience that Chebib could instantly relate to, and his experience working with refugees (on his feature documentary Wajd – Songs of Separation) has informed his approach whenever working with people living with trauma. However, fully aware of his blind spots, he made sure that Buffalo was as involved as much as possible – from the writing process to the edit – in the making the film and also collaborated with people from Indigenous communities, even creating a paid mentorship for the sound design and mixing.
Given how personal the film is, and the vulnerabilities Buffalo has to show for the story to be this emotionally powerful, the pair quickly decided voice-over would be key. I usually am not a fan of voice-over narration, but here it undeniably strengthens the authenticity of the story and the emotional engagement for the audience. Adopting an unconventional filmmaking process, where they recorded the audio first, through a series of conversations and scripted sections, this was edited together before Chebib tackled the visual aesthetic of the film. Buffalo had never shared some parts of his story before, which made it a delicate process that heavily relied on his rapport with Chebib and ultimately contributed to his healing journey or as he puts it: “…by doing this film and having those moments of vulnerability… the more I was able to speak about it, the stronger my voice became. And I speak from the heart every time I talk now.”
Chebib looked to “employ a stylized, cinematic approach that would blur the lines between documentary / narrative / skate video”.
Visually, the film blends elements of the skate video with an aesthetic that blurs the lines between doc and fiction. Opting to use as little archival footage as possible, they wanted to highlight that this is Joe’s tale of how he is finding the courage to confront his inner demons head-on, not a historical doc. And this emotional approach is very obvious and effective on-screen, with DP Liam Mitchell, who has also known Buffalo for years, capturing the depth of the story through an intimate lens. The images are indeed captivating, but the pacing is also flawless and plays an important role in capturing Buffalo’s state of mind. Following a hopeful exposition, which doesn’t shy away from the darkness within the skater’s story, as the film progresses the most powerful moments comes as we relive the time when Buffalo finally gets back up after hitting rock bottom. As the darker photography is replaced with shots bathed in natural light, and the music takes on a lighter tone, the audience feels a sense of relief, and in my case definitely an emotional one – the frame widening and that final shot wrapping the film on such a gorgeous and peaceful note.
Following a successful festival run, where it picked up the audience award at SXSW for documentary shorts and the best documentary at Regard, Joe Buffalo premiered on the New Yorker on October 6th ahead of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Chebib is currently in post with a new short doc about Darius Sam, a 20-year-old Indigenous man who ran 100 miles in subzero Canadian winter to raise awareness around mental health and addiction issues. The director is also in the process of developing a couple of narrative shorts.