YSF'12 Feature Films
Minds in the Water - AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Dave Rastovich and Justin Krumb
Screening: Friday Night @ Clancy's
Five years in the making, Minds In The Water is the story of one surfer’s international journey to help protect dolphins, whales and their ocean environment. Through the charismatic journey of one person’s life, witness an adventure spanning the globe from Australia and the Galapagos to Tonga, Alaska and Japan. See first hand how one surfer’s quest to protect dolphins and whales has blossomed into a movement of like minds. The film captures a key moment in one person’s life when apathy is no longer an option.
Pro surfer Dave “Rasta” Rastovich went from an ocean minded admirer to an ocean activist when he embarked on a personal mission to help stop the worldwide commercial slaughter of dolphins and whales. While unsure at first, Dave quickly found his activist sea legs and helped build a core team of filmmakers, journalists, musicians, eco-pirates, celebrity surfers and even a professional mermaid to help spread the message. All this has been documented in the film, Minds In The Water.
The message of the film is two fold: The power of one individual to inspire people to take action and make a difference and if ocean minded people are to pass on a sustainable culture, then they must become responsible stewards of their coastal environment.
El Mar mi Alma - WA PREMIERE
Director: Stephen Jones
Screening: Friday Night @ Clancy's
'El Mar, Mi Alma' is a 16mm surf/cultural film experience shot in Chile featuring a talented and diverse cast and uniquely authentic soundtrack. With a long and diverse coastline Chile is a country not only shaped by its geography; the sea occupies a mystical and poetic, conscious and unconcious place within the cultural fabric of the nation.
The film is a visual tone poem, a blend of images and music consisting of cinematic surfing sequences intercut with coastal landscapes, insightful commentary from local people, and the movements of the cast on a surfing journey. From the backdrop of an environmental campaign, with environmental themes and political undercurrent, the film paints a picture of Chile's beauty and association with the sea, centred around the affectionate and intimate act of surfing.
Come Hell or High Water - AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Keith Malloy
Screening: Saturday Night @ Clancy's
Keith Malloy’s debut film, Come Hell or High Water, shot primarily on 16mm focuses on the simplicity and beauty of bodysurfing. Keith explores the history and progression of the sport through its many unique characters. As he explains the film, “It's about taking a breath, and kicking your feet, in the big blue sea.”
Finnsurf - AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Aleksi Raik
Screening: Saturday Night @ Clancy's
Glassy waves, swaying palm trees, shorts and bikinis, a dream of a careless lifestyle somewhere far and warm spring to mind when you think of surfing. But how does this image fit in with that of Finland?
You are covered with frost and it is snowing. A few minus degrees are multiplied by the freezing onshore wind blowing at 30 m/s. A man changes into a 6mm wetsuit in the heavy storm, and heads towards the roaring waves. The temperature of the seawater is close to zero. It’s freezing outside. What the hell..?
FinnSurf is the world’s first Finnish surf film. It’s a freezing, and at the same time warm documentary of surfboarding in Finland , and in some other places as well. A film about true love and a passion larger than life. Escaping boring life and not regretting later. Winning yours fears. Aiming for balance, peace of mind and harmony. Relaxedness and pleasure. World where the life is dream and dream is everyday life.
FinnSurf tells a story of five Finnish surfers. Everyone has their own point of view on surfing, Finland and surfing in Finland.
Last Paradise - AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Clive Neeson
Screening: Sunday Night @ Clancy's
Fourty five years ago, a maverick bunch of kids began experimenting with something that would change the world. In the most stunning original footage we relive the journey of surfers who pioneered the concept of extreme sports. On the roads less traveled we discover with them secret paradises which have long since gone. But for one.
Starring A.J. Hackett, Allan Byrne, Ton Deken, Kristin Boese, Sky Solbach, Dave Smithers, Jeff Campbell
30,000 - WA PREMIERE
Director: Richard James
Screening: Saturday afternoon 2pm @ Samudra
In 2010, two surfers travelled 30,000 kilometres down the west coast of Africa. Alond the way they surfed Morocco, Western Sahara, Senegal, Liberia, Angola, Namibia and South Africa. Thirty Thousand documents the journey and the waves.
Lost and Found - AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Doug Walker
Screening: Sunday afternoon 2pm @ Samudra
Lost and Found is a film upon the discovery of 30,000 negatives found in 3 boxes at a flea market in Los Angeles, Ca. Over the past 3+ years Doug Walker has traveled reuniting photographers as well as surfers with some of surfing’s best images ever captured. It is a film that truly comes from the heart as stories are told and captured in a way like no other surfing film. Showing people that if stories are not told, they are lost.
Starring: Aaron Chang, Dan Merkel, Gerry Lopez, Jock Sutherland, Buttons Kahuiokalani, Larry Bertleman, Duncan Campbell, Bobby Owens, Greg Weaver, Candy Moore, Bob Barbour, Rory Russell.
Manufacturing Stoke - AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director: Pierce Kavanagh
Screening: Sunday morning @ Samudra
No other sport is so intrinsically linked to nature. Some call it a spiritual experience, most call it indescribable. And yet, in becoming the multi-billion dollar industry it is today, a great paradox has risen. Surfers are indeed directly connected to the earth’s pulse and yet a majority of the materials used are environmentally toxic. Enter surfing’s renaissance, an era where the new generation is completely changing what it means to be a surfer. And amid timid efforts from the industry’s biggies, a plethora of grassroots up-and-comers is redefining what a surfer is supposed to ride. From wooden surfboards, handplanes and alaias to recycled blanks and organic clothing, wave riding is taking on a new soul.
Manufacturing Stoke is an introspective look into the surfing culture’s struggle to be beneficial unto itself, a tapestry of both influential and eclectic members of the surfing community that are constantly striving for positive change.
The Still Point - WA PREMIERE
Director: Taki Bibelas
Screening: Saturday morning @ Samudra
A T.S. Eliot Poem inspires a film about water and the ocean that is told by worlds legendary pioneer surfers. This is a documentary about the ocean and waves as seen through the eyes and thoughts of some of the worlds most known 'water-men'. It's about the ocean and the connection of all things. For them, surfing is a form of self-expression and a way of life, but is it also a microcosm of life on this planet? . Is the ocean alive, does it have a consciousness?
Short Films
12 Short films were submitted this year, and the judging panel have selected the best 6. The shorts will be announced very soon.
