Wade in the Water: A Journey into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture (2023) Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2023

This is an excellent took at the Black surfing culture and how, despite many people thinking that people of African descent not having a relationship with the ocean their relationship goes back over 10 centuries 

This film is great on so many different levels. Historically the film opens up so much that most people simply don't know. First we get a history of life on the Atlantic Coast of Africa  where the only way to get around was by swimming or taking a boat. We learn that the first records of surfing was in the 1640's a full 130 years before there were records of any one surfing in the Pacific. The film also gives a clear indication that the late Nick Gabaldon was driving force in the rise of surfing in California simply because he was so good. We also get the story of Tony Corley and The Black Surfers Association. If you are a casual fan of surfing this film will alter how you see the sport.

More importantly the film is a glorious exploration of the  return to the sea of a group of people who once were one with it. 

I loved this film. If I was going to quibble it is that there is still so much to say about this subject that the brief run time is much too short.

Highly recommended

MAYA AND THE WAVE (2022) DOC NYC 2022

Opening  night film of DOC NYC of 2022 Maya Gabeira, the world's best big wave surfer- period. She is better than any man or woman doing the same thing. The film follows over several years as she competes, deals with injuries, and chauvinism. 

If you like surfing docs this is something you will want to see on a big screen. The images of Maya surfing and the waves are among the best I've ever seen. I don't say that lightly. rather as a huge fan of great surf footage. I've been a fan of great surfing docs since I started Unseen Films when some of the first films I covered were surf films.  Trust me the images in this film will blow your mind. Puny humans should not be dealing with monsters that big (Godzilla has nothing on these waves)

Beyond the images this is a good if by the numbers portrait of a surfer.  If you like surfing docs you've seen the basic format before since the film follows the usual patterns. There is nothing wrong with that, it's just that the narrative doesn't quite match the awesomeness of the images.... which is the real reason to see this.

Recommended for the jaw dropping images.

Facing Monsters (2022)in theaters 9/22 and VOD 11/15

FACING MONSTERS is a portrait of surfer Kerby Brown

I love really good surfing films. I got hooked at my first Tribeca when I saw a film about river surfing knocked my socks off.  Ever since then I am on the look out for films on surfing, particularly at film festivals, because the visuals usually floor me. 

As good as Kerby's story is, the chief reason to see this film is the visuals. Containing some of the most amazing images I’ve ever seen in any films the frightening power of the sea is revealed. I couldn’t believe that people would willingly take on waves of the sort we see in this film. It absolutely blew my mind and then some.

I love this film a great deal. 

This film is a stunner on so many levels.

Recommended.

Havana Libre (2022) Santa Barbara Film Festival 2022

In Cuba surfers are arrested by the police. Officials in the country don’t see it as a sport or much of anything and take a dim view of anyone surfing. The new film Havana Libre tells the stories of a group of surfers  struggling to practice their sport and become recognized by the authorities so that they won’t get arrested every time they go out on the water.

While not filled with endless spectacular images of surfing the film is till filled with a mad passion for the sport as the film focuses on group of surfers talking about their love of sport and taking steps to get it recognized by Cuban authorities. This is a film where the love of the sport is revealed in ways that are not typical at least for a surfing film. 

It is also a look at Cuba that isn't typial. This isn't the way most other films portray the country. We are not just in the city but out in the wilds. We are focused on a small group doing what they love. The result, for those of us who know Cuba only through stories and movies, is a bigger country.

This is a really good film and whether you are a surfing fan or want to know more about Cuba then you owe it to yourself to see HAVANA LIBRE

BIG VS SMALL (2020) DOC NYC 2020

This is a portrait of surfer Joana Andrade. Wanting to surf at Nazaré, Portugal, a place of huge waves and great danger she realizes that she needs some additional training and sets out to get it in order to be able to conquer the giants.   

While Andrade is a clearly someone you'll want to ge to know the real reason that you'll want to see this film is the kick ass surfing photography  Containing some of the most incredible surfing footage I've ever seen, BIG VS SMALL has images that will over power you. I am so unhappy that DOC NYC is virtual this year since this is a film that demands to be seen on as huge (not just big but huge) a screen as possible. I was in awe. 

Recommended to anyone who want to see a good sports bio, this is a must of you have a super sized TV.

The Longest Wave (2019) DOC NYC

This is a portrait of champion windsurfer/kiter surfer/ stand up paddle boarder and just plain surfer Robby Naish as he tries to find and ride the longest wave.

I must confess my desire to do an incredibly short review had me toying with the simple statement "It's just okay" but I thought that would be rude.

Rude or not the film really is just okay. While not bad, and certain to gain stature on the big screen where the wide vistas will have the audience sighing in awe, it is in fact exactly like any other of the recent docs to have come out over the last ten years- all of which follow the rise of the surfer from when they were a kid up to the present. All have some catch or another to be sure, but all are structured exactly alike which is fine but grows tiresome around the twenty minute mark of all the films.

Honestly I would have expected more from director Joe Berlinger who has made some of the most arresting docs of the past couple of decades.

Worth a look on the big screen, but if you aren't seeing it that way its best for surf fans only.

Gaza Surf Club (2016)

One of the best films at this year's Doc Fortnight follows a group of surfers as they surf and try to get by in their town in the Gaza Strip.

Truly great film is full of wonderful people incredible images and one hell of a story . Its the tale of a group of people unable to go anywhere so they turn to something that gives them a fleeting sense of freedom. It will make you smile as it breaks your heart.

A quietly political film, there are no grand speeches only aa reporting of life on the sea shore. If one wants to know what the film is all about one need only look at the bombed out building s and listen to the stories of life in the Gaza strip to know what the situation is. Its quiet revelations are more powerful than horrible stories or pictures because through the accumulated time spent with all of the people in the film we come to truly understand what the state of hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians is doing to the people and the landscape.

And of course the film is about surfing. Beautifully shot the film has some of the best surfing sequences I've seen in a while.

This is just a great movie.

Highly recommend.