Picture a group of young women carving through the streets of Cochabamba, Bolivia — voluminous skirts billowing, wheels grinding, hearts fearless. This is no ordinary skate crew. This is ImillaSkate, and their story is one of the most electric things you’ll see on screen this year.
We’re incredibly proud to be bringing the short documentary ImillaSkate — The Cholita Skaters of Bolivia to this year’s Gutsy Girls Adventure Film Festival, and if you haven’t bought your ticket yet, let this be the article that convinces you.
Who are they?
An indigenous female collective rewriting the rules
Founded in 2019 in Bolivia’s third-largest city, ImillaSkate is a collective of indigenous young women who have found each other — and themselves — through skateboarding. The name says it all: imilla means “young girl” in Aymara and Quechua, the two most widely spoken indigenous languages in a country where more than half the population carries indigenous roots.
But what truly sets this crew apart is what they wear while they skate. Instead of the typical streetwear of the skate world, these women ride in the pollera — the traditional voluminous skirt long associated with the indigenous cholita women of Bolivia’s highlands. It’s a garment with a complex history, and in the hands of ImillaSkate, it becomes something extraordinary.
“Skateboarding for me is about progress in my life.” — Deysi, ImillaSkate
The story behind the skirt
A garment that carries centuries
The pollera has roots stretching back to the Spanish colonisation of the 16th century, imposed on indigenous communities as a marker of otherness. Over centuries, however, it was reclaimed and woven into the very fabric of Bolivian indigenous identity. For generations it was worn as a symbol of authenticity — but also, painfully, as a target for discrimination.
Today’s cholitas are rewriting that story. For the young women of ImillaSkate, dusting off the polleras of their aunts and grandmothers isn’t just a fashion statement. It’s a declaration. It’s a homecoming. It’s a refusal to be erased.
The film captures this beautifully — and it’s something that has to be witnessed rather than simply read about.
Why you need to see this film
A revolution in polleras
Directed by Rebecca Basaure and Mariano Carranza, ImillaSkate is no simple sports doco. Set against a backdrop where racial prejudice and gender-based violence remain a lived reality, the film follows these women as they push for something bigger than tricks and tarmac — they’re building a movement.
The film follows the collective as they pursue an ambitious dream: to expand their skate school into a proper social enterprise, creating space and opportunity for the next generation of young girls in their neighbourhood. What unfolds on screen is a story of rebellion, of sisterhood, of radical joy — and of what happens when women refuse to shrink.
As the filmmakers themselves put it:
“Their skateboards become tools of cultural pride, and their bodies in motion become a language of self-determination.” — Rebecca Basaure & Mariano Carranza, Directors
There is so much more to this story than we can tell you here — and that’s precisely the point. The moments that will stay with you, the turns that will catch you off guard, the women who will inspire you — those are waiting for you in the cinema.
Grab your tickets now and come experience the film that’s making waves around the world — a story of skateboarding, sisterhood, and the fiercest kind of pride.
Get your tickets HERE
Be sure to follow Imillaskate on Instagram HERE
All images are credited to the filmmaker and are still from the film.
