Surf’s Up
The Aotearoa Surf Film Festival (ASFF) is rolling into Queenstown and Wānaka this week. It’s the 13th annual festival, which celebrates the best of surf culture and cinema, as well as connections to the environment. A curated selection of 12 local and international surf feature films, documentaries and short films will be showcased.
While it’s not all about the awards, there are a few to give out and a panel of judges will decide on the three categories, which are Best Kiwi Film, Most Environmentally Conscious Film and ASFF People’s Choice Award. Starting out over the hill in Wānaka, the festival aims to harbour creativity within the surf community.
“Wānaka local Nick Stephenson started the festival to celebrate surf media and surf culture within New Zealand and get filmmakers from New Zealand enthusiastic and pumped to create some awesome surf films,” says Murphy-Harris, festival owner. “I’ve been involved for the past five years and we tour the country in autumn, which is the best time of the year for surf. It’s basically a massive road trip showcasing the best films that were submitted for the film festival.”
While earlier in the tour’s history they didn’t have as many locally-grown submissions, the Kiwi films are dominating the line-up this year taking more than half of the films – eight made the cut. The remaining films come out of England, Australia, Canada, and Iceland.
“Kiwis just weren’t putting it as a priority, or maybe just weren’t making surf films that often. There were only half a dozen filmmakers in the country. Now we’re getting heaps of really high quality films produced by Kiwis and in New Zealand, which is really cool because we’ve been the only real showcase of it. That’s what it’s all about – celebrating surf culture in New Zealand and also celebrating that on film – making films about Kiwi surfing and culture.”
One of the Kiwi films that will be shown is They Call Me Wazza by Jonathan Smit. It follows the remarkable journey of Warren Hawke, a well-known surf photographer from Ōtautahi, Christchurch, and his battle with cancer. Smit and Wazza first met at Sumner beach when they were capturing the waves, and since then have been on surf trips together.
Other films include The Granny Grommets, which shows that there’s no age limit on enjoying the ocean. A grommet is what the surf world would call someone, usually a child, who's just getting into surfing, but the Granny Grommets are claiming it for themselves. There’s also Let Me Live, directed by Keith Malloy, which shows Tom Lowe, a surfing outsider and British big wave surfer, who is paving his own path to surfing’s highest levels through pure grit, determination and a little help from his friends. Another one on the line-up is Desert Dogs, following George Syme and Tommy Butland’s self-funded surf trip to the edge of the desert and beyond.
Despite our location a wee ways away from the beach, support for the festival here has grown over the years. Murphy-Harris says the festival is always well-received in Queenstown and Wānaka because there are a lot of surfers living around our region as well as people who love the outdoors. Each year the shows sell out in this area, something many of those living on the coast don’t expect.
“It’s pretty amazing to see surfers and non-surfers coming along and enjoying the films. I think people like to see a mix of some high-quality international films, that are often of countries that people have never seen, as well seeing their homegrown flavour and seeing waves that they’re familiar with for surfers, or beaches they’re familiar with,” Murphy-Harris says.
The Aotearoa Surf Film Festival will be at World Bar in Queenstown on Tuesday, 25 March and at Wānaka Community Hub on Thursday, 27 March. Tickets, a list of the films and more information can be found at asff.co.nz
