Aotearoa Surf Film Festival returns
The 11th annual Aotearoa Surf Film Festival will roll into Queenstown and Wanaka this week.
The event celebrates the best of surf culture and cinema, as well as connections to the environment. A curated selection of local and international surf feature films, documentaries and short films will be showcased.
A panel of four judges will decide the winning film, which will be announced at the final stop of the tour in Auckland. The winning filmmaker will score a camera package from Canon valued at $5,000.
Matthew McClurg is the tour manager; he says that there are some really strong contenders this year and a great diverse line-up, which includes female surf films, shortboarding, longboarding, and some “really cool stories throughout,” says Matthew.
“We have filmmakers from all over the world submit films, which are judged. Our judges have been involved in the surf industry for quite a while – some of them are photographers, some of them are people from the industry, and some of them are surfers themselves and public figures. Of all the submissions, our judges select a handful of films which they believe to be the best, and they’re the ones that become a part of the festival and go on-screen around the country.”
In addition to getting to view some pretty sweet films, every ticket purchased serves as a raffle ticket and at the end of the tour, one lucky winner will walk away with a surfboard shaped by local Kiwi legends, BearBones SurfCo.
“We’d love to get as many people down to World Bar and the Community Hub as possible – we want to support these venues, get it packed out and just have a fun night. The biggest thing for us is to show the films and have people come and support, particularly the Kiwi filmmakers,” says Matthew.
The Aotearoa Surf Film Festival will be at World Bar in Queenstown on Thursday 23 March and at Wanaka Community Hub on Friday 24 March. Tickets, a list of the films and more information on the event can be found at asff.co.nz
