Big Wednesday is a 1978 American coming of age buddy sports comedy-drama film directed by John Milius. Written by Milius and Dennis Aaberg, it is loosely based on their own experiences at Malibu, California. The picture stars Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt, and Gary Busey as California surfers facing life and the Vietnam War against the backdrop of their love of surfing.
George Douglas Freeth Jr. was an American life guard and swimming instructor. Freeth was referred to in his day as the first white person to become expert at wave surfing, although he was of part Native Hawaiian descent. He and fellow Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanamoku introduced the sport to the United States.
Surf movies fall into three distinct genres:
Surf culture includes the people, language, fashion, and lifestyle surrounding the sport of surfing. The history of surfing began with the ancient Polynesians. That initial culture directly influenced modern surfing, which began to flourish and evolve in the early 20th century, with its popularity peaking during the 1950s and 1960s. It has affected music, fashion, literature, film, art, and youth jargon in popular culture. The number of surfers throughout the world continues to increase as the culture spreads.
Surf's Up is a 2007 American animated mockumentary comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It was directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck from a screenplay they co-wrote with Don Rhymer and producer Chris Jenkins, based on a story by Jenkins and Christian Darren. The film stars the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, and James Woods. It is a parody of surfing documentaries, such as The Endless Summer and Riding Giants, with parts of the plot parodying North Shore. Real-life surfers Kelly Slater and Rob Machado have vignettes as their penguin surfer counterparts. To obtain the desired hand-held documentary feel, the film's animation team motion-captured a physical camera operator's moves.
Riding Giants is a 2004 documentary film produced by Agi Orsi and directed and narrated by Stacy Peralta, a famous skater/surfer. The movie traces the origins of surfing and specifically focuses on the art of big wave riding. Some of the featured surfers are Greg Noll, Laird Hamilton, and Jeff Clark, and surfing pioneers such as Mickey Munoz.
A waverider is a type of hypersonic aircraft that takes advantage of compression lift from its own shock wave.
The New York Surf Film Festival is a film festival held in New York City featuring surf films that was held between 2008 and 2013.
Easkey Britton is an Irish surfer from Rossnowlagh, County Donegal. In 2010, she won her fifth consecutive Irish National Surfing Championship title at her namesake wave in County Sligo and in 2009 became the British Pro-Tour Champion.
Richie Fitzgerald is an Irish big-wave surfer.
Joel Conroy is an Irish filmmaker.
Gabriel 'Gabe' Davies is a British big-wave surfer.
Margo Harkin is an Irish filmmaker. Best known for the drama Hush-a-Bye Baby and the documentary Bloody Sunday: A Derry Diary, Harkin produced the surfing documentary Waveriders in 2008.
Lauren Davies is a British novelist and screenwriter. Her screenwriting credits include the feature documentary Waveriders, which was nominated for a prestigious Grierson Award and was voted one of the Top 50 Irish films of all time in May 2020 by the Irish Times. WAVERIDERS, shot on film and narrated by Cillian Murphy, was awarded the 2008 Dublin International Film Festival Audience Award and was the IFTA winner for best Feature Documentary in 2009 She created the story for the innovative multi-platform game IAMPLAYR, which won the Cannes Gold Lion 2009. She wrote the documentary CLOUD 9 about 11-times world champion surfer, Kelly Slater, for Quiksilver. She has written 7 books, most recently the environmental children's book, LITTLE TURTLE TURNS THE TIDE about ocean plastics, released in 2020. Her last novel 'SWELL' set in the glamorous world of professional surfing was released in 2015 on Amazon. Her first novel SERVE COOL, published by Time Warner, was a top 10 debut novel of the year in 2001. Her novel ANGEL ON AIR was long-listed for "romantic comedy of the year" by the Romantic Novelists' Association in 2003, followed by the novel WATER WINGS set in Ireland. In 2011, Lauren founded LOLA COVE FILMS to develop her own film projects. She produced the award-winning short BEYOND THE SCARS screened on Channel 4, and now works as a screenwriter and producer. Lauren recently worked as the surfing coordinator on the Disney feature ARTEMIS FOWL, directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh. Her debut original screenplay, has been optioned and is currently in development. Lauren is a Trustee of the environmental Charity Surfers Against Sewage.
Drift is a 2013 Australian film about the birth of the surf industry in the 1970s. It was shot in Western Australia and co-directed by Morgan O'Neill and Ben Nott. It starred Sam Worthington, Xavier Samuel, and Myles Pollard and was inspired by real events.
Cyrus Sutton is an American director and professional surfer. Growing up in Southern California and dividing his time between the coast and mountains, Sutton's inventive approach to filmmaking became the basis of the outdoor surf website Korduroy.tv Growing up near the ocean and participating in water sports such as body surfing, bodyboarding and surfing, he sought to use cinematography to document the surf culture around him and on his travels. His commercial clients include Adidas, Apple, Corona, Reef, and Patagonia. His career has been well documented by various national publications such as Surfer Magazine and The New York Times.
Surfing in the United States is a popular hobby in coastal areas, and more recently due to the invention of wave pools, inland regions of the country. It contributes to a lifestyle and culture in which millions participate and which millions more have an interest. USA surfing is the governing body for the sport of surfing in the United States, with surf leagues such as the World Surf League available in the country. Surfing can be traced back to 17th Century Hawaii and has evolved over time into the professional sport it is today, with surfing being included for the first time in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Ireland has become increasingly popular as a surfing destination, due to its exposed location on the turbulent Atlantic seaboard.
The Lost Wave: An African Surf Story is a 2007 São Tomé and Príncipe documentary film directed by Sam George.
