Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story
We headed up to Hollywood last night to Outfest’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival to catch the premiere of STAY ON BOARD: THE LEO BAKER STORY. So many skateboarders and people involved in skateboarding came out to support Leo and see this beautiful film, We ran into Poppy Starr Olsen, Hannah Tallman, Nora Vasconcellos, Julie and Quinne Daniels, Brian Anderson, Lisa Whitaker of Meow Skateboards, Heidi Lemmon from the Skatepark Association, and many, many more.
The film follows pro street skater Leo Baker over a crucial four-year period of his life, but with the help of Leo’s mom, Donna Baker, who saved everything since the start of his skateboarding career, the story goes back much further.
As you may remember, Leo was originally part of the USA National Team headed for the 2020 Olympics but later quietly resigned and gave up his quest to skateboard in the Olympics for Team USA.
This film sheds light on why that decision played a huge part in Leo being true to himself and living an authentic life. Stay on Board chronicles Leo’s journey balancing the gendered world of sports, transition, society, and skate culture.
Q&A after the film with Directors Nicola Marsh, Giovanni Reda, Leo Baker, and editor Sasha Perry
Directed by Nicola Marsh and Giovanni Reda. The film is from executive producers Drew Barrymore, Alex Schmider (Director of Transgender Representation at GLAAD), Ember Truesdell, Marisa Clifford, and Thomas Benski. Edited by Sasha Perry, Lauren Saffa.