When Skate Kitchen premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival it felt like a breath of fresh air. Crystal Moselle’s New York City-set film was an ode and a celebration of “The Skate Kitchen,” a skate collective made up of all kinds of girls who found in one another kindred spirits who loved breezing through the East Village or Long Island City, freely taking in the kinetic energy of the city. What made Skate Kitchen so fascinating was the way it incorporated the lived lives of its protagonists to tell a fictionalized story of how an all-girl skating crew could help a young Latina like Rachelle Vinberg‘s Camille come out of her shell.
For audiences aching to see the likes of Vinberg and her fellow castmates — which include tomboyish Nina Moran, the slim and observant Moonbear, the fashionable Ajani Russell and the soft-spoken Dede Lovelace — Skate Kitchen was a coming of age film like no other. It’s no surprise to find that HBO developed Moselle’s feature film and turned into it a six-episode television show premiering later this year.
Bringing back the OG Skate Kitchen crew and delving deeper into their own stories, Betty looks every bit the extension of the feature film as you’d expect. In a brief teaser shared ahead of the show’s premiere, you can see these badass skaters ruling the crowded streets of New York City, showing off their mad skills at skate parks, basking in the summer sun while dancing and even getting into one or two fights with skater boys who can’t stand their swagger. Get to know these Bettys in the teaser trailer below.
Betty premieres on HBO May 1, 2020.
