26th Durban International Film Festival : 15-26 June 2005
DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (15-26 June) hosts the
WAVESCAPES SURF FILM FESTIVAL (18-24 June) |
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THE FILMS: A BROKE DOWN MELODY d. Chris Malloy , USA 2004 Features six-time world champion Kelly Slater, Tom Curren, Rob Machado, and musician surfer Jack Johnson in a smooth, fluid and soulful celebration of surfing, whether Jamaican surfers who compete in a tournament or third world kids using pieces of surfboards to ride the foamies. The title track is written & performed by Johnson. An artistic and experimental film that is soothing to watch. English, Video, 50min BILLABONG ODYSSEY d. Philip Boston , USA 2004 A filmic summary of an ambitious two-year project to find and ride the biggest waves on earth. Watch the opening sequence, perhaps the single most jaw-dropping surf scene in cinematic history. Top surfers are whisked off to exotic and contrasting locales, usually at a moment's notice, whether Mavericks in California or Todos Santos in Mexico; Cortes Bank in the Pacific or the vicious barrels of Teahupoo, Tahiti. English, Video, 87mins DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS d. Stacy Peralta , USA 2001 dogtown and Z-Boys set the trend for a mainstream foothold by feature-length documentaries. An epic pop-culture history lesson narrated by Sean Penn, with a pumping soundtrack of 70s rock bands, it documents the evolution of skateboarding and the revolution of its style, cobbling old 8mm and Video stock shot in the 1970s in "Dogtown" (Venice, California) with modern footage of aging heroes of that era in a "before and after" script. English, 35mm, 97mins LORDS OF DOGTOWN d. Catherine Hardwicke , USA 2005 The 1970s saw the Zephyr team (Z-Boys) of radical teen surfers from “Dogtown” (Venice, California) revolutionise skateboarding. Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva and Jay Adams took aggressive surfing moves to the streets and swimming pools, inventing the "aerial" - a key component of many modern extreme sports. Peralta plumbed his past to write an authentic script for a Hollywood cover version of reality. Stars Heath Ledger. English, 35mm, 105mins POROROCA d. Bill Heath , Brazil 2001 Pororoca means 'great destructive noise' or 'Monster' in Amazon dialects. Brazilians Carlos Burle, Eraldo Gueiros and Picuruta Salazar, with Australian Ross Clarke-Jones, tame the Pororoca wave as it rumbles up the Amazon after spring low tide. The river and the outgoing tide peg back the sea until the pushing tide is suddenly released as a series of 3-4 metre waves for more than 12 kilometres (a 37 minute wave, the longest ride in surfing history. English, Video, 26mins RIDING GIANTS d. Stacy Peralta , USA France Hawaii 2004 This feature documentary opened the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, a favourite of Robert Redford. It's an exhilarating dash through the history of surfing, from its Polynesian roots to big wave extremes. Packed with humour and quirky motion graphics and stills, it tells the grainy, textured story of people like Greg Noll, Jeff Clark and Laird Hamilton, from early Hawaii to the big bucks, big balls, big wave era of today. English, 35mm, 101mins SEASONS d. Chad Campbell Language: English , USA 2004 A modern day Endless Summer, Seasons follows top surfer Ross Williams in search of new waves and friends to the weirdest locations, including Iceland, Norway, and New York. Seasons is a soulful documentation of a life surfers dream about - travel, adventure, friends and good waves. The film was shot on location in 2004, and includes footage of the 2004 winter season on the North Shore of Oahu. English, Video, 60mins SEPTEMBER SESSIONS d. Jack Johnson , USA 2001 In 1999, some of the world's best surfers travelled to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia for a photo shoot. They found the ultimate surfers' paradise. This short film documents a once-in-a-lifetime surf trip with Shane Dorian, Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Ross Williams, Luke Egan and Brad Gerlach, with music by balladeer and surfer Jack Johnson. A soulful and languid celebration of friendship and the sheer exhilaration of the perfect surf trip. English, Video, 38mins SPROUT d. Thomas Campbell , USA 2005 Prolific artist and filmmaker Thomas Campbell shot this feature-length documentary entirely on Video stock (the trademark T-Moe method). Comprising a diverse mix of surfers, locations and surfing equipment, it took five years to make. Sprout captures the surfing ethos by examining its many technical variations - long boards to eggs; canvas mats to the fish; twin-fins to single; shortboards to rhino chasers. Basically, whatever floats. English, Video, 90mins TAKING BACK THE WAVES d. Nicolaas Hofmeyr , SA 2004 Cass Collier and Ian Armstrong won a big wave world title for South Africa in Mexico in 1999. It was the end of a long road for Cass, whose surfer dad Ahmed was a respected activist when Cass was a grommet during Apartheid. A poignant South African story, as the Daily Dispatch put it: 'Through Cass and his parents, we will see fragments of South Africa's political history, within the microcosm of the sport of surfing.' The Director will attend the festival Engish, Video, 74mins THE DUNGEON KEEPERS d. Andy Davis and Neil Webster , SA 2005 Journalist Andy Davis and film-maker Neil Webster trawled a massive archive of film and print media from Red Bull Big Wave Africa, a surf contest held for the last six years at a scary break near Cape Town, to produce a "best of" retrospective. They achieved the brief with a great little film that bulges with explosive big wave action, quirky scripting, crisp editing and a thumping soundtrack that is 100% South African. English, Video, 61mins THE RIDE d. Leslie Iwerks and Don King , USA 2004 Winner of Best Film at the 2004 X-Dance Festival, this "big-wave reality-adventure documentary" includes insights into legends like Tom Carroll, Darrick Doerner, Laird Hamilton, Ross Clarke-Jones, Dave Kalama and Peter Mel. There is footage from the November 2003 swell labelled the best big waves ever. Pe'ahi (Jaws) totalled five jetskis and dealt a dozen injuries. Miraculously, everyone survived the 50' waves. Awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping stuff. English, Video, 48mins The Wavescapes Surf Film Festival www.wavescapes.co.za is supported by First National Bank. DIFF Full programme and film synopses will be available on www.cca.ukzn.ac.za from June 1st ends |
