Opening August 22, 2003
A Palm Pictures Release

The director of STOKED: The Rise and Fall of Gator,
Helen Stickler, is the ultimate cool girl. Her film is about of
the rise and fall of Mark "Gator" Rogowski, an icon of mid-80s
SoCal skateboarding culture. Not only did Stickler gain access to
the top figures of this male dominated extreme sport, she's put
together a fascinating look back at 80s culture that examines both
the meaning of fame and the influence and powerful new
aesthetic of video. But STOKED: The Rise and Fall of Gator is
much more than a cool skater doc and a nostalgia trip for those
of us who came of age in that era. The result of six years of
persistence and investigation, the film is really about how the
commercialization of a once authentic youth culture curdled the
fortunes - and psyche - of its first golden boy.
STOKED: The Rise and Fall of Gator recently drew acclaim at the
2003 Sundance Film Festival.