Through My Board — Interview & Event Coverage
My name is April Jones, a filmmaker and skateboarder, and like many of us, I was shaped by places like Burnside. Skateboarding didn’t just give me an outlet; it gave me a language, a community and a unique way of seeing the world.
Not everyone is given equal access to language.
Through My Board, is a feature documentary film centered on a deaf skateboarder, Paul Johnson and his evolution at the world famous Burnside Skatepark.
The film challenges the assumptions about communication, participation, and inclusion. It pushes beyond visibility. It doesn’t just tell a story, it opens a door for deaf skateboarders, for deaf youth, and for the next generation.
Here’s an interview with Paul Johnson and Dan Eason, director and producer of the feature film Through My Board. (@throughmyboard)
Dan Eason Interview (Film Producer/Director)
April – So tell me a little bit about the inspiration behind the film.
Dan – So, I’ve been working out here in Portland on a bunch of other films and I wanted to do a project of my own. It was like right before the movie, Social Dilemma came out, and there was this wave of people getting trapped on their phones and getting disconnected from their communities.
I met Paul outside of the Doug Fir Lounge and, you know, we were just sitting there by the fire. He noticed I had skate shoes on and ya know skaters recognize like real skaters. So, we were trying to talk, but I don’t know sign language. So it was just kind of like charades at that point.
And I decided to do a project about Paul and his community because there’s no community that I know of that is as tight knit as Burnside. And to tell a story about a community that is connected in a time where everyone was disconnected. Paul story at Burnside, and the Burnside community was a perfect example of that.
April – So how are you kind of designing the film to be used as a tool, to like, open up access for the deaf community?
Dan – There’s two different sides of that. Film is an audio and visual medium. Right. And that was tricky because typically when you have dialog going over B-roll, that helps you edit and tell the story. But in this scenario, because we were appealing to both hearing audiences and deaf audiences, the captions had to do a lot of the work. So I color coded each caption to each character. So if there’s skateboarding happening as B-roll, but Paul is being interviewed, his letters are white. And then if you know, Karl Hubble hops in, his letters are green. So the deaf audience knows someone else switched speaking.
April – What do you hope the deaf community takes away from this film?
Dan – That we’re paying attention. I was a bit nervous at first about what the deaf community was going to think of me as a filmmaker who doesn’t know sign language. I’ve learned a little bit along the way. But we’re relying heavily on interpreters, and interpreters aren’t easy to come by when you’re like, shit’s happening now.
April – What have you taken away from making this film?
Through this process, I’ve made so many friends out of Burnside. It’s like a family now.
And I’ve very much felt welcomed.
Paul Johnson Interview (OG Burnside & main character)
April – Do you think this film opens up doors for deaf kids who might not know skateboarding is possible for them?
Paul – Yeah, ya know, as a deaf skater, I’m sharing my story and hopefully some kids will see that, and maybe after they’ll see this they’ll get some ideas of their own and make their own path. Back when I was growing up, how things were back then, the kids are so much better these days. Like, it’s amazing what they’re learning now. Especially, when kids come up to me and they’re like, look what I learned.
April – Do you see the way we communicate evolving?
Paul – Yeah, with things changing, I see things getting better, especially with the old TTY that we had to use, and now we have AI, like, oh my gosh, things are so much different and better. I think there’s gonna be a lot in store. I definitely see brighter futures for the deaf community.
If you wanna learn to sign, there’s lots of stuff online, you know. You can start with ‘Thank you’ and ‘you’re welcome’.
April – What is the future for you, Paul?
Paul – What I see doing in the future. I mean, I’ll never stop skating. Maybe, I want to look into art or design or computers or technology or something like that. I could teach ya know, and help build up the deaf community.
Watch the TRAILER here.
