WoolfWomen - Now or Never

For those not in the know downhill skateboarding is, well skateboarding downhill at high speed, very high speed. Overtaking cars looks positively suicidal and exhilarating and frankly mad but it is increasingly popular, with international competitions and looking at Olympic status.

The Jenny Jungle and WoolfWomen team of Anna, Jazzy, Lisa and Alejandra are pretty much at the pinnacle of their sport so filmmakers Marchelle De Angelis and Jennifer Schauarte i.e., Jenny Jungle film a documentary with Jenny as the focus with the ambition to travel 6000km, across 8 countries to a monastery in Northern Turkey.

The film was originally envisaged more of team event. But it became more Jenny focused after she had a terrible accident then incompetent corrective surgery and a time at home Germany convalescing. The latter very difficult as it brought back memories of her late father. The ambition was now for the WoolfWomen to continue with their quest and for Jenny to get her confidence back and return to the board and the road.

Travelling through the Europe and into turkey the women are frank about themselves and their reasons for the passion they have for downhill skateboarding; pure escapism, challenge, mental wellbeing and a greater understanding of the environment around them. There’s also a lot of fun. As failed anglers they have to turn to figs and when the car gets stuck in Romania, they get on a what looks like a polystyrene raft, paddle out to a lake for a swim.

These moments and when they are on their boards is when the documentary is at its most fluid and life affirming, and possibly inspiring. As when the WoolfWomen meet sport icon Valeria who through the sort has inspired girls in male dominated societies to have some confidence in themselves, at the same time showing boys and men what they are capable of.

So there is a bit of a message mixed up in here with references to gender equality, the environment and the advantages of the ‘onecap’. But in the main this is at times a very personal journey of mental and physical rehabilitation for Jenny with the unwavering support of the other WoolfWomen who like all good friends are straight with her about the dangers of the road once they reach the monastery and it’s time for Jenny to get back on her board: she’s not fully fit, with a limp and relatively weak to take on the stress of a downhill road at high speed.

Technically the film is shot to suit, a bit threadbare and I imagine endless shots of the boarders’ backs as they go downhill very fast could tire the viewer, so this is mixed up with split screen and other tricks. Use of drones leads to some wonderful images as the women board their way down the roads in Turkey.

WoolfWomen – Now or Never will be in UK cinemas from 8 June 2023.