Film

Film doesn’t make decks — it makes trucks, out of Lyon. The brand is Jérémie Daclin’s project, the same Daclin who founded Cliché in 1997 and ran it until Dwindle shut it down in November 2016. Film started in 2018 with a very specific idea: a truck brand built and sold from Europe, able to pay European riders without going through the usual American distribution chain.

History

Daclin laid it all out to Jenkem in February 2021. The problem, as he put it, is that the truck market has been the same three or four brands for decades and almost nobody gets paid to ride for them. He was open about the numbers too: every hanger size needs its own mould at $6,000–7,000, while the baseplate mould is shared across the whole range. Production is in China and European sales go direct to the customer, which is how he lands five to ten euros under an Independent. The brand gives 1% of profits through 1% For The Planet.

The trucks

Geometry is the first thing that sets a Film apart: 53 mm tall, two millimetres lower than an Independent. The baseplate is cast with parking-block ridges and the logo hides the golden ratio inside it — two details that tell you plenty about the house tone.

Sizes run from 4.25” (105 mm), for 6.25”–7.6” decks, up to 6.5” (165 mm) for 9” and wider, taking in 5.0” (125 mm), 5.25” (135 mm), 5.5” (145 mm) and 6.0” (155 mm). Each truck weighs 364 g and — take note — is sold individually, not as a pair: if you want two, order two. The range covers the RAW Classic with white, black, red or purple bushings, the Black Baseplate, the Petrol, the Pink Marshmallow, a hollow-kingpin version and an inverted-kingpin one. Around it sit BONJOUR Urethane wheels, Into The Wild decks with artwork by Todd Bratrud, Jean Jullien and Brian Lotti, and Film’s own rails.

The team

The team is large and mostly European. It includes Daclin himself, Bastien Salabanzi, Léo Valls, Mickael Mackrodt, Tom Botwid, Fred Ploque-Santos, Ben Gonsolin, Victor Cascarigny — who has his own model, the Ramen Bowl — Bastien Marlin, Arno Wagner, Adrien Coillard, Efrem Sapienza, Romane Panossian, Enzo Morel, Nassir Roumou, Ben Koppl, Flo Maillet, George Poole and Joe Hinson, among others.

On video, the brand has been dropping edits since the Nouvelle Vague promo (2019): Along The French Riviera (2020), a trip through Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Nice and Antibes; Low Impact (2023), filmed and edited by Vincent Jugnet in Lyon; and Corps à Corps (2024). Thrasher has run them all.

Who it’s for

It’s a good call if you skate in Europe, want a slightly lower truck than the norm, and like the idea of the money staying with a small brand on this continent. Remember it’s sold by the unit — the price you see on a listing is usually for one truck, not two.

It isn’t for you if you need spare parts from any shop down the road — Independent and Thunder are far easier to service — or if what you were after was a deck. If you’re unsure about height, start with the Hi vs Lo trucks guide.