Heather Hudson sets her rail on a solid wave. Photo: Steve Bissell
SMASH is one of the coolest things to happen to New York in a long time. And New York is a big place with a lot of things going on. SMASH, as much an acronym as it is a production company, stands for Surf / Movies / Art / Shaping / History. It also stands for the preservation of the roots of surfing and surf culture. It does that through publicly showing a body of work–be it film, art, shaping and/or history–to the greater surf community in order to educate its members on surfing’s roots while staying current and appealing to contemporary surf culture. It serves to represent the evolution of the founder’s projects–one of which being the New York Surf Film Festival.
Heather Hudson–a Californian, surfer and filmmaker–fits into the picture in that she too educates her surrounding surf community as well. As co-producer, alongside Peck Euwer, she created The Women and the Wave–a great documentary about women surfers that captures the character of some of the sport’s surfing souls. This, amongst her other accolades, qualified her to be a curator for the film portion of the SMASH festival–an opportunity she did not take lightly once Tyler Breuer, SMASH festival founder, opened the door for her.
-Reid Levin, The Inertia Assistant Editor
In your opinion, what makes SMASH unique? Why is it different from other surf film festivals?
SMASH is unique in that it endeavors to embody all aspects of surf culture (ie: movies, art, shaping, history). I really like the fact that SMASH embraces independent filmmaking as well as industry filmmaking. The surf culture is vast and not just defined narrowly by a few large mainstream companies.
Can you give us an idea of what it’s like to work on this film festival? What made you want to jump into that?
When I received an e-mail from Tyler [Breuer] asking me to curate for the film portion of the festival, I immediately replied, “YES!” What better way to spend my spare time over a few months but to watch a huge number of surf movies! My family and friends laughed when I told them because they know how much I would be tortured doing this. Haha! Anyway, as a woman who has surfed since the 70’s, I have seen a lot happen. I feel grateful to know that my opinion is respected.
What makes surf cinema unique?
Surfing is very special to so many people. It is their life! There are many amazing and talented people within the surf culture. How awesome that their stories are being told. What could be better than to be told by the surfers/filmmakers themselves?
What is one thing that will blow the minds of this year’s SMASH attendees?
The films. They are awesome! Great stories, beautiful to watch and thought provoking!
I must say, there were so many that were so very good that it was difficult to pick my top choices in each category. Each film on the “Curators Picks” is so unique and worthy of a look!
Where do you think surf filmmaking is heading in the future? Paint a picture for us.
With the advancement of technology and communication, the world is becoming smaller by the minute. The technology is becoming so user-friendly. Just like the saying that today “everyone surfs!” It is also said that “everyone is a filmmaker!” We are learning so much about surfing from individuals around the world. The view is broader and the stories endless. We are becoming saturated in it! But in the end, to me, it’s still obvious that it still takes talent and a good eye to make a great film.
With recent developments in technology, like the GoPro for example, do you think it will help or hinder surf films? How?
New developments in technology will no doubt keep coming out. It’s exciting to see things that we haven’t seen before. The only downside I see is that they get overused and become status quo and redundant. That said, it is refreshing to see something new and different! I look forward to seeing what’s next!
