LEWISTON – Two of Lewiston’s newest public venues – the cultural center at the Lewiston Public Library and the skateboard facility in the adjacent city park – have forged an unusual partnership to host a visit by one of French Canada’s edgiest entourages of young talent: the Skirtboarders.

The library offered its Callahan Hall to skateboarder/filmmaker Mathilde Pigeon, 26, of Montreal for the U.S. premiere of her recently released video “Skirtboarders le film.” Pigeon enthusiastically accepted and, in turn, invited three members of the film’s title namesake to join her Saturday, May 12, for what has evolved into a miniextravaganza of art, culture and skateboarding.

The action will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Kennedy Park skatepark, where three members of the Montreal-based, all-female skateboard team, the Skirtboarders, will show off some of their signature moves while Pigeon follows behind on her board, camera in hand, demonstrating the distinctive art of skateboard videography.

At 4 p.m., Pigeon and her “posse” – Anne-Sophie Julien, 20; Margaux Walker, 21; and Julie Lévesque, 27 – will present the first of two screenings of Pigeon’s half-hour video, “Skirtboarders le film,” at the library. The film offers a glimpse into the vibrant skateboarding scene in the Montreal area and this unique skirter “girl gang,” which has taken root and flourished there.

There will be another Skirtboarders demo at the skatepark at 6 p.m., followed at 7 p.m. by a second showing of Pigeon’s film and an opportunity for people to ask questions about the making of the movie. The evening will conclude with an informal after-party, where attendees can socialize with the Skirtboarders crew and enjoy some authentic French-Canadian music and dancing.

Cindy Larock, LPL cultural coordinator, sees the youth-oriented event as both culturally enriching in terms of the film-as-art and Franco traditions and timely, given the opening of the city’s new skatepark just last fall. “I waited until this month to schedule it in order to take advantage of the warmer, drier weather since I was pretty sure that showing the movie would drive kids to the park with their boards,” said Larock. “But it was Mathilde’s idea to bring some members of the Skirtboarders team with her to do some demonstrations there – which they are really looking forward to since they have heard that our Lewiston park is one of the best skating facilities in New England.”

Pigeon didn’t set out to be a videographer, or even a skateboarder. “There wasn’t a lot to do in Verchères,” the modest Montreal suburb where she grew up, she said. Her brother was into skateboarding as were most of her guy friends, so she gave it a go herself when she was about 15 and found she enjoyed it, especially when she moved to Montreal a few years ago and discovered a small core of other young women also actively engaged in the sport. They began meeting regularly to give each other pointers on technique and to provideencouragement to younger girls just getting into the sport.

Their numbers grew and before long, they were calling themselves “Skirtboarders,” entering competitions and going on road trips together.

The progression to making a video was a natural next step, said Pigeon. “We watched skate videos all the time but we rarely saw women in them,” so she and her chums took to the streets and parks with camcorders to film themselves, just for fun.

“People would see us filming and ask ‘When is it coming out? When can we see it?’ ” Pigeon said. Her videos were rather sketchy artistically, but as she invested in better cameras and lenses and continued to experiment, she progressed to producing first video meant for public consumption. “Skirtboarders le film,” which focuses on her skateboarding sisterhood in Montreal, had its debut in Montreal in December, with considerable media fanfare and acclaim.

All four of the young women are bilingual, and while they expect to communicate mostly in English during their stay here, they look forward to sharing some insights into contemporary French-Canadian life. Pigeon noted that her video features a rich aural backdrop of music produced entirely by contemporary Quebecois bands, most of whom sing in French.

The Skirtboarders’ appearance in Lewiston is presented by the city’s library and recreation department, which oversees the skatepark, with assistance from the local community skateboarding support group SLAM and Twin City Boarders skate shop. For more information, call the library at 784-0135, extension 200; or Twin City Boarders at 782-7757.