Skate Kitchen: An Interview with Brenn and Jules Lorenzo
Brenn and Jules Lorenzo are 20-year-old fraternal twins who live in Brooklyn, New York. In 2018, they starred in the Indie-Drama movie, Skate Kitchen, a film that follows the lives of a group of girl skateboarders. The group of girls, who also call themselves ‘Skate Kitchen’ breaks the mold for what’s ‘normal’ through skating, fashion, and adolescence. In honor of International Women’s Month, we talked to the Lorenzo girls about their take on it all and how their lives have been affected since ‘Skate Kitchen’ has been in the spotlight.
When did the spark with skating begin?
J: When we were 11 we would see our neighbors skating and thought it was super cool, and then we just started going to the park around us and trying it. Eventually our dad built us a double sided ramp in our backyard and it kind of just went from there.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
J: I always loved the idea of writing and reading and the idea of creating little worlds. I used to write cartoons and draw pictures to go with it. Also slightly saw myself in acting. The thought of playing someone that wasn’t myself sounded cool to me.
B: I was similar in a way of all of that, but I was more interested in the singing side of it. Right now I’m working towards putting out an EP and curating my life around that.
At what point did ‘Skate Kitchen’, the actual group, come about?
J: Some of us knew each other from school and some of us just met through skating, but ever since we made a short film in 2016, it solidified an actual ‘group’. It was mad cool because most of us didn’t grow up around other girls skating. Also, we would take acting classes together so through that we would get super close, too.
How did Skate Kitchen, the movie, come about?
J: Some of the girls met Crystal, the director, on the subway actually. She approached them and said she loved their vibe and once they got to talking they decided that they should work together. First it was meant to be a documentary, but she felt that we all had a sort of teenage magic - so then it became a script of a feature film.
How has SK has affected women?
B: On the press tour we would hear from women country to country that SK affected them positively. Girls would recognize us in London, and even in Japan girls would come up and express their love for it even with the language barrier.
J: Yeah, and we get messages from girls telling us that we inspired them to skate which is always so awesome to hear. I know for myself growing up I didn’t see girls at skate parks, but now going to skate parks you see girls everywhere. I think it’s so cool that women are encouraged to step into such a male dominant space and not feel out of place. With image too, I think we provided a great platform that no matter where you come from or what color you are, you can skate.
You both clearly, along with all of SK, have an amazing sense of style. How does that tie in with it all?
B: Well if you go to the parks now you’ll see just about every outfit on the spectrum, which is dope. For us though it’s just fun to be in baggy clothes. Tight clothes are something I’m just not interested in wearing. I use my personal platform to post fashion posts because it’s what I’m really interested in addition to skating.
What’s your hope for the future with all of this?
J: “I just hope that SK keeps inspiring girls to step out of their comfort zone and to break the barrier that you can’t do something because you look a type of way. There’s too much of this ‘girls can’t do certain things’ but I think that this all shows that ‘no we can do so much more than people think.”