The Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival is a celebration of surf and ocean culture, showcasing associated art, films and other fun events! This year, the festival was presented by Vans and comprised of 14 ocean-minded events, including three South African film premieres, screenings at four venues, the Artboard Project exhibition & charity auction, the Blue Ocean Masterclass, a surfboard swap with live music, and an underwater cleanup. I attended the Sunburnt Surf Club Film Night at The Labia and got to embrace the beauty of surf culture!
Sunburnt Surf Club is a surf event that champions community in surfing, trying to remove the focus of the competition in the sport. "Within a surf industry that is so fragmented, with little sense of tangible realness and rawness, we try our best to take it back to its core – an appreciation for the crafts we ride, historic surf influences that often go unappreciated and the alternative surf style that is slowly coming to realisation throughout the world," the club says about their mission.
Their collaboration with The Wavescape Surf and Ocean Festival featured two events, one day event and one evening event. The day event comprised of a morning surf contest which prided itself on the mission of the club, to create a greater sense of community. The evening event was a film night, hosted at The Labia, which screened Natural High directed by Jack Coleman and Con Duende directed by Guillem Cruells.
On a mission to expand my repertoire of independent and alternative film knowledge, I was ecstatic to be introduced to the world of surf films. Con Duende was the first film screened and is "a surf film that explores the soulful parallels between riding waves and performing flamenco arts." Con Duende felt like a love letter to the local culture, drawing similarities between the vibrant flamenco dance and surf community. The tempo of the dance and intensity of the waves complemented each other perfectly, ebbing and flowing together.
CON DUENDE from Guillem Cruells on Vimeo.
Natural High, by acclaimed surf filmmaker Jack Coleman, was up next at the screening. Coleman's films are notable for including interesting surf styles, surfboards, and camera work. Natural High features surfers like Ryan Burch, Derrick Disney, Stephanie Gilmore, Bryce Young, Ari Browne, and Andy Nieblas, among others, and is narrated by iconic Californian surfer, John Peck. From illustration to claymation, Coleman merges different art styles with wave-catching footage to tell the stories of the featured surfers. The film was shot over three years in various locations including Hawai'i, California, Mexico, France, Indonesia and Australia. As surf writer Jamie Brisick wrote perfectly, "You don’t just watch a Jack Coleman movie, you plunge into Jack’s world... And it’s a joyous world — full of peeling waves and sideways drifts and luminous characters and always, always, always great music."
The Sunburnt Surf Club Film Night opened my eyes to a whole world of filmmaking that I didn't know much about before. Each film was filled with true appreciation and passion for surfing, not just as a sport but as a community.
Written by: Vidal Thaver
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
|