84 SurfGirl Magazine
featuring Paramore to Bloc Party without a ukulele strain in
earshot, this genre-breaking ‘parts’ movie elevated female
surfing to new levels.
In three short years these three films rewrote the script
on what it means to be a female surfer, revealing that there
are multiple ways of being and multiple ways of seeing.
The rulebook had been torn up.
It’s into this brave new world in 2011 that we founded
the London Surf / Film Festival and the last decade
has seen a paradigm shift in surf filmmaking and the
representation of women on both sides of the camera.
A greater number and percentage of films coming to the
fore feature women as a matter of course, reflecting the
changes in our line-ups globally and the progression of
women’s surfing. With clips dropping all the time of Carissa
pulling air reverses or Steph finding new lines on a twinnie,
filmmakers can’t justify only featuring men – and why
would they? The WSL crew, Carissa, Steph, Lakey and
Courtney, rip, and would be the apex surfer in any line up;
the likes of Leah Dawson and Kassia Meador are super
stylists; LeeAnn Curren and Easkey Britton are acclaimed
adventurers; and big wave chargers like Keala Kennelly
and Paige Alms are leading the push, so it’s little wonder
that it’s these women who feature in the films we screen, or
that it’s their stories we want to hear.
Stories of female surfers and communities are being told
through groundbreaking documentaries that challenge the
status quo and confront gender politics. Award-winning
films like Into The Sea (Dir. Marion Poizeau), exploring
women surfing in Iran, Surf Girls Jamaica (Dir, Lucy Jane
and Joya Berrow), uncovering surfing as a tool for social
change, Beyond The Surface (Dir. Crystal Thornburg
Homcy), featuring India’s first female surfer, and A Land
Shaped by Women (Ann-Flore Marxer & Aline Bock)
looking at the role of women in Icelandic society.
Surf filmmaking isn’t just about big cameras; it’s about
big ideas. It feels as though there has been a shift towards
a range of films that better represent the diversity of our
line-ups – a more democratic and balanced artistic output.
When women become more immersed in the process,
more involved in production – as filmmakers, directors,
writers, producers and the talent – that is where the real
changes occur. In 2018, close to half of the international
and British films we premiered featured women either on
camera or as integral parts of the production team, enjoyed
by an audience that is growing close to gender partiality
between male and female. I find myself wondering, hoping:
‘Are we getting to a point where we’re no longer making
men’s surf films or women’s surf films – a point where
we’re simply making surf films? Are we nearly there yet?’
The 9th London Surf / Film Festival runs 9-12 October
2019 at Regent Street Cinema, W1. Bringing surf films
from across the globe to the UK, accompanied by
talks, gallery shows, live music and more. For details
of premieres, happenings and pop-up events head to
londonsurffilmfestival.com TOM SERVAIS