Submarine Channel

‘Shine bright like a diamond’…we’re not quoting Rihanna’s song, we’re describing your teeth. If you’re wearing grillz, that is.

The Story

This five-part web doc from 2009 is all about grillz, a.k.a. mouth bling: it was all the rage in the 1990s. A mouth filled with gold and laced with diamonds was once the most desirable status symbol among America’s inner-city street entrepreneurs. But before we knew it, Nelly (hip-hop supremo to the aged and erstwhile “boo” to Kelly Rowland) brought them to the mainstream, and soon you could get your own stick-on set for just 99 cents at the local bodega – thus marking the veritable death of grillz cred.

Directed by Boris Everts and Sander Kerkhof and produced by Submarine Channel, Grillz takes you from Houston to Brooklyn to Amsterdam via the veterans of bejeweled dentistry and their creators. There is something not quite right about skinny Dutch dudes with a mouth full of bling: so wrong and yet…

About Boris Evers and Sander Kerkhof

Boris Evers studied at the Art Academy in Utrecht and worked for different television programmes at the VPRO, a Dutch progressive broadcaster. Since than he focused mainly on camera work for a vast array of productions, from music videos to documentaries, from MTV to Fox Kids.

Freelance journalist Sander Kerkhof worked for years as a critic and radio maker for VPRO’s famous online music magazine: 3voor12. Sander was closely involved with the development of State Magazine, an online hip hop magazine. Besides for his journalistic work, he is well known for his performances as DJ Sandeman.

About Minimovies

A Minimovie is an episodic documentary consisting of 8 to 10 episodes. Episodes are 7 to 10 minutes each. Put together, they form a self-contained story. With MiniMovies SubmarineChannel explores a new narrative and visual style of documentary filmmaking. You can watch the Minimovies here or simply download them to your digital device of choice.

Credits

This production was supported by the Dutch Cultural Media Fund.
A Submarine Channel production in collaboration with VPRO Television and State Magazine