Producer James Sweigert (front) and some of the cast of the documentary history N-Men, which portrayed the history of skateboarding in the Sacramento area from the 60s and 70s onward.  Photo by Rick Sloan

RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - The second International Documentary Film Festival, September 29 – October 1, received 150 entries winnowed down to the 59 accepted, from 23 countries.  The reception at Rancho Cordova City Hall began the event at 5:30 p.m. on the 29th. Dignitaries and their guests enjoyed food, drink and the showing of N-Men, a documentary about the history of skateboarding in the Sacramento area. Festival director Charles Lago and Rancho Cordova Film Office marketing director Sidney Stipanovich guided the evening’s events.

The Festival was also a contest, with two panels of judges and four categories. “We hope to announce the winners by mid to late October,” Lago said. Rancho Cordova Mayor Linda Budge will announce the winners. The Belka & Hagan Families award for Best of Festival Documentary is $1,000; KP International Market Award for Best Foreign Film, $500; Comstock’s Award for Best Short Documentary and California Capital Arts Foundation Award for Most Interesting Documentary Subject, each awarding $250.

Lago came to the Sacramento area in 2020 to produce a film, then realized there was a need for a film office in Rancho Cordova.  “They liked the idea of having their own film office, and that’s how we ended up,” Lago said.  They are now in their fourth year.

N-Men showed in two sold-out locations at City Hall. The story began in the 1960s and 70s, continuing through current times. Producer James Sweigert was present, also some of the skateboarders featured in the film, including Steve-O Brockway, accompanied by his wife Kristi Smith-Brockway.

Back then Sweigert was just a kid at the park.  “He knew who we were . . . but he was kind of afraid to be around us,” Brockway said.  “We were a motley crew . . . The difference between us and any other skateboarding crew in the whole world is that . . . I’m 63 and a lot of our guys are in their 60s, and we are all still skating together . . .  It’s not a film, it’s a life.”

Sweigert recalls the group from the perspective of “a little guy watching this group of skateboarders... All of us young guys were like, ‘Where did these guys learn how to do all this?’ It turns out they had been skating in empty swimming pools for years... sometimes, if the pools weren’t empty and the houses were abandoned... they would jump the fence, pump 10,000 gallons of water out of a pool in 7 hours, clean it and skate it until they got chased off by the Sacramento Sheriff’s Deputies.” When Sweigert grew up, he went to LA, became a film producer, and was the obvious choice to produce this documentary.

Not all of the films are stories of fun and games.  “Joe 238” tells the story of policeman Joe Chairez, badge number 238, who sustained a burst aneurysm while making an arrest only 5½ months after joining the Sacramento County Police Department.  Joe had told his parents Jess and Theresa Chairez that if anything happened, he wanted to donate his organs. Theresa agreed, but Jess was opposed.

With only 1% chance of his son’s survival, Jess prayed for guidance and felt God’s answer that, “If I honored my son, I’d be honoring Him.” The donor process proceeded. Jess joined the Red Cross and went from place to place telling the story of Joe238 and how many people had been helped by receiving organ transplants. In time, Joe made a cloth patch depicting his son’s badge. When he began receiving quilt patches with name, badge, and EOW (End of Watch) date of fallen officers from police departments all over the country, Jess made quilts for those departments.  He has now made 50 quilts commemorating the sacrifice of those courageous officers.

“Rancho Cordova Film Office is who we are, but we did the Festival under the California Capital Arts Foundation,” Lago said.  “The mission of the film office is to attract filming to the Rancho Cordova area . . . and once they’re here, we facilitate the filming on behalf of the City.”

The film festival’s director Charles Lago (left) of CCAF lets RCPD Chief Brandon Luke “steal the show” at the reception on Friday, September 29! Photo by Rick Sloan 

 CRPD Board Secretary Rick Sloan (left) sneaks into the director’s shoes for some fun, film reviewing with CCAF’s Charles Lago at this year’s International Documentary Film Festival. Photo courtesy of Rick Sloan

Charles Lago (center) Director of California Capital Film Office receives a Sacramento County Supervisors Board of Directors Proclamation from Supervisor Pat Hume’s Chief of Staff, Rebecca Sloan (right.) Rancho Cordova Mayor Linda Budge (left) was part of the film festival’s attending dignitaries. Photo by Rick Sloan

Jess and wife Theresa Chairez with one of the many quilts he has created featuring patches portraying badges of fallen policemen. Photo by Daniel Aniceto

 

From left to right: RCPD Officer Jason Kimbrell, Lt. Rich Meredith, festival director Charles Lago (center) RCPD Chief Brandon Luke, and Officer Sariah Loudon. Photo by Rick Sloan