Mikey DeTemple, toes on the nose.
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.
Mikey DeTemple is one of the curators for this year’s SMASH Fest. He is a professional surfer, filmmaker, a born and bred New Yorker and alterna-board advocate. He is also the Producer/Director behind the 2009 movie “Picaresque“–a gem in the world of surf cinema. These qualifications made Mikey an obvious choice to be a curator at SMASH. When longtime friend and fellow New York surfer Tyler Breuer asked him to jump on board, he joined the talented team of curators. With his experience and keen eye for film, those in attendance will be treated to a well-picked selection of high quality surf flicks.
-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 to me as I feel like it’s general purpose is to truly give back to the filmmakers. Film festivals wouldn’t happen without them, and Tyler and his crew really make everyone feel that way. It’s also in such a geographically unique location with a thriving new surf culture. That really makes the curators, judging panel and films selected so interesting and vibrant–like New York.
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?
I was one of the five festival curators and watched all of the submissions. Tyler is a great friend of mine who I’ve grown up surfing with in NY. He asked me if I would be involved as a curator in the very early stages of the festival. I was thrilled to do so and even more thrilled to be curating it alongside some of my favorite and extremely talented New Yorkers.
What makes surf cinema unique?
Surfing has such a unique culture so with that comes unique films. No one really views surfing the same and that is so apparent in the world of surf films. From surf porn to documentaries, there are so many stories to be told and so many ways to tell them.
What is one thing that will blow the minds of this year’s SMASH attendees?
How different the films are. You could see every film in the festival and feel something totally different each time.
Where do you think surf filmmaking is heading in the future? Paint a picture for us.
That’s a tough one. People will continue to tell awesome stories. Pictures will get better with the availability of better equipment, but what it really comes down to is where these films will live. It’s a strange era right now with the DVD slowly fading into uselessness. Technology will tell the future.
With recent developments in technology, like the GoPro for example, do you think it will help or hinder surf films? How?
Perfect timing on this question with my above technology rant. I hated the idea of the GoPro when it first came out. That’s because it was a pretty useless tool as a filmmaker. The quality was terrible. Fast forward to now. It’s an amazing thing to have in your camera bag. It’s just making things easier to tell the story you want to tell. There are so many variables to what makes a good surf film and mixing one of these into the medium you shoot on is great but all in moderation.
