Shred
When 6 year old skateboarding prodigy Asher Bradshaw makes an appearance at the infamous skate park in beautiful sun soaked Venice Beach California, the world stops and watches in awe. If you're lucky enough to make it through the sea of cheering fans, you will see Asher busting the most incredible tricks by anyone's standards, and with the greatest of ease. You don't need to know anything or even care about skateboarding, he is just simply captivating. That's what happened to us in the summer of 2010 when we first met Asher. We knew somehow he was going to change our lives, and that we had to make a film about him. Flourishing in the most famous and influential skateboarding scene in the world, Asher has become not only accepted as a Venice Local, but somewhat of a local celebrity in his own right, skating in the company of such greats as the Dogtown Z boys. But it all seems a world away when we see he comes from one of the most dangerous and impoverish parts of California and arguably the country – South Central, LA. His father does 12 hour shifts every day making asphalt for the city, while his mother stays home and looks after their three other children and elderly grandmother. A gang infested neighborhood where his father tells painful stories of neighborhood shootings…Chilling to say the least. We witness the struggle first hand. What would you do if you had a child who was a prodigy? How much would you be willing to give up for your child to pursue their dream? These questions and more are answered in this film and may surprise you. After several months of filming, and seeing how dire the situation was for Asher and his family, we decided to make promo video for Asher to help get the word out about his incredible talent. His Dad uploaded the video onto youtube, and it instantly went viral! Asher was an internet sensation in a matter of days, gaining over 2.1 million hits to date. We followed the inevitable buzz that stemmed from the video and started to see things change for Asher. News crews from around the world came to do stories on the young phenom from as far away as Australia; modeling contracts were offered as well as a TV show with super model Heidi Klum, and even a music video with Jermaine Jackson! But was it enough to help him achieve his goal of becoming a sponsored pro? Where will this little boy’s story go? Will this be the next amazing rags to riches story? The journey has been tough, with many obstacles along the way. But After over three years of filming, 200 hours of footage, 25 competitions, 2 New York photo shoots, 5 television appearances, and many many smiles and tears along the way; we've had an all access pass into Asher's life on the road to discovery.
Starring Asher Bradshaw, Justin Bradshaw, Andrew Bradshaw
Director Kathy Herndl