remembering

This is the other teaser we made for state of play, filmed by Ross and spliced together by me. James Parry at home in Gwenvor and Sennen

memoir.....

Seems a lifetime ago in some ways but it's only 6 or 7 years since I made a surf film with my mate Ross. Things have changed a lot since then and I think the internet has made the business model we used a little obsolete while the advent of go-pro HD cameras and cheaper more powerful editing software has raised the bar significantly.


I'm still quietly proud of it though.....

an authentic story.....

[TRAILER] The Avthentic Story from Avthentic Films on Vimeo.


I've just been watching this new little dvd from talented frenchman Rudy Jacques and it's really pretty cool. Least it made me want to go surfing and thats a pretty good test of any movie i always think!

It's 40 mins of artfully shot french logging with a handful of oher stuff thrown in. Rudy would be the first to admit that Thomas Campbell is a huge influence and it shows clearly here, there is a definate feeling of the seedling being a strong point of reference.  Dismissing it as purely derivative would however be unfair and would be missing the originality and gallic flair that Rudy's filmakers eye exhibits.

Most of the surfing is by guys you wont have heard of (although Clovis donzinetti is in the latest vans duct tape comp) and most of the waves are under head high. It will probably redefine you're preconception of French beach breaks - it's not all thumping barrels, summer offers trunkable logging waves as well as the obvious attractions of ace seafood and fine cheap wine. I think my two favorite sequences are the body surf/ paipo session and the guy cruising on a frye fishsimmons at the end.

What really pervades the footage is a sense of fun and an absence of pretence. This "authenticity" is a thread that runs through all of Rudy's work and it's something i know he regards as central to it.

Bottom line, i really enjoyed watching it. Head on over to avthentic.com to get a copy and see for yourself!

the seedling

Still one of my favorite surf films and one that still stands up (in my eyes at least) to repeated viewing. I'm an avowed Tmoe fan and it's difficult to underestimate how much watching my original VHS copy of the seedling back in 1999 shaped my surfing aspirations.

moving pictures...

 

Surfing Anorak that i am, i'm always looking out for new dvd's to keep me stoked while the sou' westerlies blow. This dvd popped into my mailbox a week or two ago, the new film from Mikey Detemple, the man behind Picaresque which came out a couple of years ago, called Sight Sound. With great anticipation i popped it into the dvd player tray and it's been living in there since!

Although he does wield a camera, Mikey mostly takes on an actor/director role and steer his films firmly into the artistic side of the endeavor with little in the way of voice or titles cluttering the piece. The film flows past smoothly and in full colour from one section to the next, with a "modern electric" soundtrack that is a hell of a lot better than that description makes it sound!

Like Picaresque, Mikey made an effort to seek out some of the road less travelled while gathering footage. This time we are treated to, amongst others, spitting Nicaraguan beach break barrels, sub zero snowbound Canada, dusty baja zippers and colorful Barbados.

There's an eclectic mix of surfcraft to fit with an eclectic mix of surfers. Chris del Moro clearly rips on anything, Ryan Burch makes slabs of foam look fun and there's plenty of high quality logging on offer from Detemple, Kassia Meador, Scotty Stopnik and Justin Quintal, an east coaster that few will have heard of but many will remember. There's some good footage of Tyler Warren and Detemple on mini Simmons style boards too, maybe the first footage on DVD outside richard kenvins sphere of influence and making them look just as fun as they undoubtedly are. The Canadian footage is high quality too, even if it does look ball achingly cold! It's somehow gratifying to watch pros donning full suits boots and gloves to surf in 40 degree water and snowstorms just like we do!

My favorite section features a rifling right hand Mexican point which looks almost cape st Francis perfect. Jared mell and Kassia Meador feature heavily, their contrasting styles creating a counterpoint like a conversation through the footage. Meador smoothly logging some of the most impressive women's longboarding I've seen while Mell's highly technical almost jagged and urgent "knost-esque" style sitting on the other side of the coin. Mell is exceedingly good and has perhaps the longest hang heels ive ever seen committed to film.

The overall feel is similar to picaresque although the production crew and many of the cast have changed. There's a more balanced mix of short and long equipment, warm and cold water. The most obvious difference is a hike in production values from last time. There's a more lush feel to the shots and some of the footage is shot on 16mm film stock.

It's altogether less "self congratulatory" feeling this time, something that picaresque was criticized for, I really liked it and it's stood up to repeated viewings so far.

Perhaps the best way of rating a new surf film is by answering this most simple of questions..........." did it make me want to go surfing?"

In this case, the answer......."HELL YES!"

check out the trailer here............mercifully the star wipes are not in the actual film!

Nick Lavechhia's photo by the way!

the american road.....

 

 Well just around the corner from it anyway, near a fun but exceedingly fickle spot that i haven't surfed in a few years.

Despite the sunshine, this was a cold morning, so cold that my fingers barely worked to manipulate the camera. The bike, if you missed the previous shots, is my beloved electra deluxe 3i cruiser. Guarunteed to bring a bigger and bigger smile with each revoloution of the pedals.

Whenever i have to endure a long spell without a dip in the local brine, my dvd library gets a fair bit of attention. I'm a great collector of surf films and have spent probably far too much money over the years devouring the latest logging related releases.

Pick of the latest crop, for me anyway, are:

Rip Shred Tear from Mitch Abshere and crew, full on skinny jean, cutting edge logging and really inspirational. It's no frills and the surfing is cut with random excerpts from 50's b-movie horror films. Shot over just a couple of weeks it makes you realise how consistently good the surf is in the OC from a longboarding perspective.

Stoked and Broke from Cyrus Sutton which is just plain fun and reminds me a lot of "bikecar" the travis parker snowboard film from a few years back. It chronicles a no frills trip around the encinitas area by foot. It has it's tongue firmly in it's cheek but there's some good surfing in it. Logs, fishes, guns, handplanes and square styrofoam blocks!

Final choice is 180 degrees south from Chris Malloy which is big budget and not a full on surf film but has some great surfing and climbing footage in it as well as some quality scenic cinematography. The strong enviro message may be a small turn off  and it could be considered a moving patagonia catalogue by some but it's a good film nonetheless. There's a really cool book of photos by Jeff Johnson that goes with it that i would highly reccomend too!

sound and vision

This is the trailer for the new project bt Mikey Detemple, the man behind Picaresque, which was one of my favorite recent surf films. Keep updated on their progress here

I'm already looking forward to seeing this one!

a barrel-fest of epic proportions!

Brit filmaker Ross Johns just sent me a copy of his new film, Fusion which is already out and available online here or from most good surf shops. It might just completely re-define your idea of british surfing and the quality of our waves. Here's my review for Drift

The shelves of your local surfshop are filled with a steady stream of new dvds each featuring an all star cast of action heroes pulling into monster barrels in Tahiti or pulling monster airs in Indo. Yet the number of movies celebrating our homegrown talent is woefully small. Having already seen some stills from some of the sessions included in Fusion, it was with a fair amount of excitement that i slipped it into my dvd player.

In the shops as you read this (or available through http://www.surfclips.co.uk) it aims to reveal British surfing and British waves at their best. It's been a labour of love for filmaker Ross Johns over the last three years and has lead to many an uncomfortable night asleep in the car and many a junkfuelled petrol station dinner.

From the start, there's no delusions of Thomas Campbell, there's no chin stroking celebration of how cool we all are for being surfers, this is straight up surf porn. Set to a pumping soundtrack of dance and guitar bands, it's a balls to the wall barrel fest of epic proportions.

If you are unaware of the quality of the current crop of top British surfers, or you are unaware quite how good some of the waves in the UK are, you will be picking your jaw up off the floor time and again. Some of the slab waves are very scary looking indeed with tow or paddle entry and the quality of the camera work is good. It's not all pits either, a large number of lips get well and truly slayed over the 60 minute(ish) running time along with some pretty progressive aerial surfing as well.

It's filmed all over the South West, shows the brown water of North Yorkshire at it's best and features some of the recent slab sessions in Caithness at waves like Bagpipes that have been well documented in Carve and others.

The cast list is a veritable who's who of UK shortboarding from Russ Winter and Stokesy (who has a good section as does Mark "Egor" Harris) to newer names like Tom Butler. Reubyn Ash is perhaps the only notable not present.

There's a dash of progressive longboarding in the mix too. Adam Griffiths and Ben Skinner wield their nine foot sticks into turns that most people dream of doing on boards three feet shorter, before they prove they are both equally at home on shorter, skinnier equipment.

This isn't "Thicker Than Water", its not trying to be. It is a great document of where we are right now and almost certainly shows the highest level of homegrown surfing captured on video to date. If it doesn't inspire you to pull in deeper or smack the lip harder the next time you surf then nothing will!

7 waves....

The song is "59" from Brian Setzer's ignition album

cp in 7 from Chris Preston on Vimeo.

Devon Lanes and longboards

There's a new British longboard movie out as you read this, made by father of Ben, Andy Haworth. It's a loving look at the longboard scene in our corner of the world and well worth getting a copy, especially as all profits are being donated to cancer charities.

There's more rumination about the film and Andy himself over on drift here. For more on the film or to order a copy go here