Team Storror showcases Parkour on a stage never before seen – the rooftops of Asian megacities. The film follows Team Storror on their exploration into what drives them to push the sport to such extremes, and the battles that face them when trying to shoot a feature film totally guerilla. RCA delves into the mental and physical preparation Parkour athletes have to undertake to make impossible ‘leaps of faith’, possible.

There are three key aspects to Roof Culture Asia, that make this documentary into this enjoyable piece of media that it is and why I love it as much as I do.

1.  Cities, A Million Rooftops

Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul – Those are the locations the documentary takes us to. 

All of those cities are big Asian metropolises and obviously very different to cities in the UK. 

I have always been fascinated by Asia and Asian cities. The architecture of the giant skyscrapers, the crowded streets and the huge mountains in the background are something I just love to look at. Those cities have a special kind of vibe to them, that not a lot of other places have, especially non-Asian ones. 

The rooftops there are also kind of perfect for something like this. The fact that so many buildings stand right next to each other makes it easy to find gaps to jump that look spectacular. Also, the flat roofs are perfect for run-ups and the signs on top of many of the roofs are great to get some cool shots.

2. Catpasses and Sticks

I mean, it‘s the whole point of the movie. This is a parkour film. It features professional athletes that perform a bunch of incredible stunts with huge drops. As a pure spectacle of parkour moves on top of roofs this is perfect. Every compilation of moves in this is extremely impressive and the great cinematography helps elevating this to more than a simple YouTube video.

But then there is a whole lot of psychology of parkour and what goes on before every stunt. The mental barrier they need to break through and the preparation at the spots they need to do beforehand. The thought process behind every single move is insane. The risk is always there (even if it‘s not that big of a leap of faith as it may seem like) and you have to be absolutely sure that you can do it. It‘s just really interesting to get this inside look into the mind of professional athletes. 

3. Team Storror Max, Benj, Drew, Callum, Toby, Sacha, Josh – that‘s Team Storror. 

A group of friends that have been active in the parkour community for over 10 years now. As you can imagine, the connection between them is quite strong. Those are business partners and professional athletes, but first and foremost they‘re just friends enjoying their hobby together. And you feel that in every single video and every scene in this documentary. It‘s not just athletes doing their thing, but friends having a good time and creating memories. Every time someone goes for a jump the rest of them stand there, witnessing it and cheering him on. And when the move is done everyone is going totally bonkers, celebrating it. It‘s in those moments that you can literally feel the passion of them, see the spark in their eyes and really notice how deep their friendship and the love for each other goes. This great chemistry makes it possible for the documentary to not only focus on the parkour, but on the group itself. With scenes like them just trying to beat each others high score on some mobile game or hiding from the police together this really isn‘t just about cool spots and moves, but a vacation with friends. Doing stuff, having fun together and making unforgettable memories. Those three aspects together create RCA and create one of the most motivational films that is equally show of talent as it is a perfect time capsule for this group of friends. It makes me want to start parkour, want to travel with my friends and want to make a film all at the same time.