The evening of surf related short films by independent makers went off in style down at Falmouth's Tremough Campus Student Union, whilst a frigid northerly wind blew a hoolie outside. Gladly inside out of the cold we received a warm welcome by compare, Christian Bailey who brought the evening to life introducing each film with enthusiasm and humour. The films on show were an array from all corners of the surfing sphere.
The first film was 5 by Fion Crow Howieson. It documents the Carve reader's poll top five surfers on a trip to the Mentawi Island. A high-energy film with fast high performance surfing cut to high tempo music in the worlds best waves. Following this was quite a contrast as Ollie Banks offered up his film, Board and Rider. Great surfing and great waves again but this time in a cold water climate, shot on 16mm film this was a slow paced artistic film that explores another path in surfing. Nightwaves by Mr B was a very slick ambient collage of waves set to very atmospheric soundtrack. Not happy to show just one film Mr B had another film on show called Rhythms were Sam Lamiroy talks about being in tune with the ocean. There were also two documentaries shown. One by Mark Roberts called Noises From The Shed; documenting the process, he follows to produce his finely crafted unique EPS and wood surfboards. The second was a very moving film by Izzy Charman, The Beach Boys. This follows three children on autistic spectrum as they learn to surf. Come Surf With Me by Rodney Sumpter brought us flashbacks of the halcyon days in the 1960's and 1970' with classic footage from around Cornwall and the rest of the world including Gerry Lopez at the Banzai Pipeline. The last film was Surf Hog a cartoon by Robbie McIntosh. This fun filled film was my favourite as it showed a surf loving Hog living the dream on a palm-fringed island surrounded by epic waves.
After much deliberation the panel of judges (including Finisterre's Tom Kay, Sarah Bently and James Parry) declared Board and Rider by Ollie Banks as best film of Board Shorts 2009 which was well deserved for a film that encapsulates the creativity and individuality evident in surfing today. It was a great evening showing the rich variety in British surf culture.
No comments:
Post a Comment