I met Víctor in 2016. I had received a call from Angel Muñoz a little bit after 9:00 p.m. The reason for the call was to invite me out to skate, he had a handrail in mind which I had no clue of the spot he was talking about, is located inside a school in Santa Monica and that he had brought reflectors along with his generator to light up the spot. All those details made me feel curious to see what could happen. I was also intrigued not having a clue of where would all these actions lead to, however, I knew who I was going with. Angel arrived to my house and inside the car was also Víctor Antillanca, a Chilean filmmaker who had just arrived to Los Angeles. Both Angel and Victor had organized the spontaneous mission to this school to create content.
The encounters with Victor have been sporadic,
In this interview we will address part of the beginning of << Conception >>.
Interview by Chris Castaneda
Hi Victor!
Hey Chris!
I am doing this interview with you because I would like to know and hear your story. We have allowed ourselves this talk to express ourselves in harmony, voices resounding illuminated by stars obstructed by the excess of electric light, trees around us as witnesses of a true dance and even at night it is not possible to witness absolute darkness. Skateboarding is merely practice and patience. Ephemeral! Starts an empirical knowledge. The goal is easy, incremental vs radical changes. Do not feel guilty, since it is useless, the error is allowed, with the human condition that it is committed only once and within a sincere search for knowledge. It has been able to open the door of the true poetic act. To make an omelette you have to break the eggs. What year do you start skating?
I started skating in the nineties (90’s) when I was a boy with a fish board, I don’t remember the brand, I was young but I do remember playing with my friends of the block walking around. Then you would run, throw the board and get on your knees until little by little you stop, at that time there were no cell phones or social networks so you learned by imagining and looking at your friends. Then we started creating obstacles, we put a table against the wall and we made it wallride. (At this point, we were at the Santa Monica Courthouse on the side where the stage is located and some teenagers placed a folded plywood inclined on the stage creating a ramp) It was something very healthy that happened naturally. Then in 1999 my family came to Los Angeles for one year and here I learned my first tricks.
I will briefly mention a Japanese method called << Ikigai >>. What does this mean?. The secrets of Japan for a long and happy life. Ikigai means << reason for being >> or << passion of our life >> in Japanese, but how to empower it so that it inspires all aspects of our existence? As you advance in this urban culture, we cross paths with characters, some of whom may bring knowledge or simply fond memories.
Do you remember a particular friendship that was born out of skateboarding?
There are many friendships and I think it would take us a long time to talk about this and it would be selfish of me to mention a single person being so many. I THINK SKATEBOARDING unites us in an unusual way and the brotherhood is incredibly strong. Once I traveled from LA to Toronto without meeting anyone and Nicky Young, a local from the city, knew that I was going and opened the doors of his house to me. Soon we will tell this story and many more in Conception. So yes brother, skateboarding is a great family.
Snakes and Ladders is an ancient Indian board game, considered a classic. The main focus of the game is to get the player’s token from the beginning-to the end, helped by the stairs and avoiding the snakes. The historical version is born from some moral lessons, where the progress of a player on a board represents a life influenced by virtues – represented by stairs – and by vices-snakes.
What have you encountered with during your journeys?
With a little bit of everything, but I think the key is to accept the situation, act and move on. fall but always get up. Once I had a flight from Los Angeles to Dallas, I was going to visit my friend Tony Molina before returning to Mexico. As it was my farewell to LA we went to a bar that was in West Hollywood. When it was time to go to the airport someone had gotten into the car where my bags were and they took all my equipment, macbook, camera, glasses, microphone , everything! imagine I wanted to die until I realized that they had not taken my hard drives and that made me happy. Sometimes life gives us obstacles and the only option is to overcome them. Let nothing and no one stop us from doing what we love the most.
Is art present in your daily life?
Yes! I really like to read and write when something happens to me, anything in life, when I need to think I write, there is a phrase that I use a lot: << Thanks to life that has given me so much, thank God, that gave me life >>. They are words of thanks that I use every day. I try to live my life creating and that makes me happy. The art of living life as you want. I believe in the power to create your own concept of life and make it come true. Art is everywhere it only depends on one to make it present in our daily lives. Either in a drawing, taking photos, or skating.
There are some skaters who dance like dumb poets on a skateboard, since they only express themselves with their feet. From what experiences do you decide to opt for short films/cinematography?
When I made my first documentary at the age of 15 “street vendors” touching on the theme of poverty and persecution in the Alameda by the state police. Since then I already had in mind that I wanted to tell true stories (in Santiago de Chile), When I traveled to Russia and when I recorded with Miguel Salamanca in Mexico City. These are three experiences that I will never forget and will always guide me on the right path.
You have been skating for over 20 years, what motivates you to keep skateboarding?
The constant learning you never master 100% so you can always learn something new or improve something old. That keeps it interesting, skateboarding is something sacred. Culture, travel, friends. Freedom of expression and the intimacy of being on top of your table at that moment you live now and nothing else matters. The feeling of pushing and moving forward and the art of falling and getting back up. Skateboarding is for life and there comes a certain moment when you say I never want to get off again and I am on that high. In love with skateboarding.
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