Two hearty honorable mentions go out to the young upstarts of the festival, Brazilian Loïc Wirth and Hawaiian, Wangdu Hovey. Although Wirth’s self financed shred flick, Intentio, wasn’t my cup of tea, I spoke with more than one festival-goer who called it their favorite film of the week. Wirth borrows heavily from Taylor Steele’s Castles In The Sky both in both his “5-d” visuals and voiceovers – which were my main gripe – but he also showcases a bunch of unknown Brazilian talent who are on par with much of the current crop of international freesurfers. The Muller brothers especially stand out for their off-kilter styles.
Hovey put together a film about paddle surfing Jaws that is somewhat unpolished, but does a fine job showing the young crew from Maui that is surfing some of the largest waves in the world as an after school activity. Through engaging interviews, he gives us an important first look at a new generation of Hawaiian watermen and women in the making.
The festival review would not be complete without mentioning El Mar, Mi Alma, directed by the Australian Steven Jones. The movie distinguished itself with a phenomenal soundtrack – much of it composed by the Chilean folk singer, Manuel Garcia. One listen would bring tears of shame to the eyes of all those Byron Bay singer songwriters who seem to score every other surf film ever made. Jones also wrangled one of the best monologues I have ever heard from a pro surfer out of the Chilean charger Ramón Navarro. Hearing him speak on the state of his country’s environment was as poignant as it gets.
Until next year.
