San Diego Surf Film Festival Announces Submission Dates and Artist Andy Davis

                          SDSFF 2015 to Showcase Surf Filmmakers Around the Globe

Misfit Pictures welcomes the return of the internationally-acclaimed San Diego Surf Film Festival May 20-23, 2015.  The fourth annual, multi-venue festival will include 25 international surf films, a VIP party, dozens of filmmakers and producers in attendance, in-depth Q&As, filmmaker panels, live art, music, great food, epic surf sessions and raging after-parties.  

The San Diego Surf Film Festival has issued an official call for submissions for this year to filmmakers around the globe.  For a direct link to submit films, go here.  Submissions will be accepted from Jan. 16-April 1st with the officially selected films being announced April 20.  The SDSFF focuses on strong narrative films from international surf cultures and has presented many films that have won awards worldwide.

In addition, the SDSFF 2015 featured artist will be Andy Davis, whose unique and whimsical surf art and designs casually capture surfing’s iconic culture.  “It's an honor for us to have Andy join us for the festival.  Andy is a great human being and we have always loved his artwork.  He is the perfect addition to our festival and we couldn’t be happier,” said founder and director Pierce Michael Kavanagh, who along with his wife Petra, created the festival in 2012.

The San Diego Surf Film Festival has quickly become one of the largest of its kind in the world.  Last year’s festival sold out all four days and attracted more than 2,200 people, who came from all over the globe to celebrate the art of surf cinema.  

“Every year we strive to present the finest in international surf cinema and award-winning filmmakers to a very enthusiastic hometown crowd and everybody has an amazing time,” Kavanagh said.  “The response we have received right from the festival’s inception has been nothing short of amazing.  We set the bar pretty high for ourselves and work really hard because San Diego deserves a surf film festival of this caliber.”

Argentina filmmakers Joaquin & Julian Azulay, whose film Tierra de Patagones won Best Feature at SDSFF 2014 summed up their experience perfectly: “The SDSFF was like being in Argentina in a soccer match – people enjoyed every film, they shouted, felt things, suffered, clapped and hooted.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. 

For more information about the San Diego Surf Film Festival, please visit: http://www.sandiegosurffilmfestival.com/.

About Misfit Pictures:

Misfit Pictures is a San Diego-based award-winning production company that creates thought-provoking, visually stunning pieces. The company’s goal is to capture stories that are shot beautifully and will inspire people to make the world a better place. Misfit pictures’ projects have included the critically-acclaimed films Manufacturing Stoke (2011) and What the Sea Gives Me (2014).  For more information please visit http://misfitpictures.com/.

Media Contact:

Andrea Siedsma

andrea@saltwatermedia.net

A Quick Conversation With Filmmaker Jack Coleman

BY PMK

Jack Coleman’s fourth independent feature length surf film Groove Move celebrates the heart and soul of surfing with the world’s top experimental board riders, from the depths of the underground to well recognized sea gliders.  Groove Move was filmed on location in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Mexico, and California, and shot on SUPER 8 film digitally transferred to HD, giving viewers a far out experience. The SDSFF is stoked to present this film during our UNDERTOW VIP PARTY, Wednesday May 7 from 7 p.m.- 11 p.m. at Karl Strauss Brewery Tasting Room, Downtown San Diego. (This event is for VIP Nautilus Pass holders).

PMK recently caught up with Jack, who is already on to his next adventure.

Welcome back from the 70's.  Your film is packed full of surfing's counterculture icons. How was it wrangling all these fine folks together to make Groove Move?

 JC: It wasn’t easy!!! I feel like it took me five years to figure it out. I thought I wanted to shoot short boarding, but this film made me look inside myself and really think about what I was shooting. So it's been a long process of figuring out how I could get these guys in my films. I think all the work I've done over the years helped me to get the big guys like Rasta, Machado, Burch and Joel; they respect that I'm shooting film and doing it all on my own. Honestly, it all seems unreal that I'm getting to meet and shoot with my favorite modern surfers. I'm truly blessed and so proud to represent them in my films.

 

Explain your draw to alternative surf craft.

JC: I think alternative crafts give you a better glide – that feeling of the wave doing all the work and you as the surfer flowing with what it gives you. Mainstream short boards are only fun for certain moments and specific conditions. Riding alternative craft gives you room to explore.

I heard something about Australia. Give us a breakdown on your summer plans and what's next.

JC: I'm in LAX  air terminal right now as I type. I’m off to Australia  for 23 days. I’m going to be showing the film a few times during my trip. I’m also going to film with my Aussie talent who lives over there. I’ll be staying on the East Coast and doing a few missions up and down the coast. I have another fairly unknown talent who lives in that zone, and I wanted to feature him in my next film. I’m pretty excited about showcasing new talent like Ari Browne and Justin Adams. I’ll be surfing too -whenever I'm not shooting. I’m going to take some time on my next film – it'll probably be out next summer. I really love my cast and they are my favorite surfers on the planet, so I'm going to keep it tight with those guys all year and keep flying under the corporate radar.

Thanks Jack, we look forward to seeing your next great adventure on film. Hoots & shakas!

 Check out the Groove Move trailer:

Second Annual San Diego Surf Film Festival Creates Colossal Wave of Stoke Around the Globe

By Andrea Siedsma
Photos by Glen Gorham

In just two years the San Diego Surf Film Festival has generated a colossal wave of stoke around the globe. From Australia to the UK, New England, Fiji and San Diego, SDSFF 2013 featured the finest in international surf cinema at the world famous Bird’s Surf Shed from May 8-12, 2013. The five-day festival, which attracted 1,700 people (up from 1,200 in 2012), also included live art and music, a beach clean-up and alternative surf session, as well as after parties. The SDSFF, the only one of its kind on the West Coast, spotlighted 42 films, 14 bands, and 16 filmmakers. Since 2012, the SDSFF has also raised $5,000 for charities.
This year’s festival far exceeded expectations for Pierce Kavanagh, who, along with his wife Petra, created the SDSFF in 2012.
“We worked tirelessly to set it all up, but the magic that was created in those five days was something special,” said Kavanagh (also known as PMK), an independent filmmaker who originally launched the SDSFF to give his peers a platform to showcase their work.

PMK

The SDSFF highlighted an eclectic mix of films and themes, from big wave surfing to New England surf culture, environmental and social responsibility, and beautiful cinematic and poetic shots of soul surfers around the world.

The SDSFF 2013 awards include:

·         Best Feature:  The Heart and the Sea – Nathan Oldfield

·         Best Cinematography:  Intentio – Loic Wirth

·         Best Short: Of Souls+Water: The Warrior – Skip Armstrong

·         Emerging Filmmakers:   Dylan Ladds and Ryna Scura (New England Blood)

·         Honorable Mention: The Shaper – Jeremy Joyce, Rich Pearn & Rob Lockyear

·         Spirit of the SDSFF: Stokefest –  Andrew Quinn

“I'm really grateful for my experience with the San Diego Surf Film Festival,” said Australian filmmaker Nathan Oldfield, whose award-wining film The Heart and the Sea explores the joy that lies at the very center  of a surfing life – family, friends and a shared intimacy with the sea. “At all times, I had great communication with the festival organizers. The whole crew involved are really open and genuine, and they are all about supporting and celebrating independent surf films. As an independent filmmaker, events like the SDSFF are really important in terms of helping promote your work. Also, the organizers, judges and audience are all core surfers. So it means a lot to me personally that my film was embraced by such an audience of surf film aficionados.”

Filmmaker Nathan Oldfield

On the other side of the world, in the UK, filmmaker Matt Crocker was equally thrilled that his film The Endless Winter - A Very British Surf Movie made the SDSFF list.
“When we made The Endless Winter we hoped that it could be enjoyed worldwide, particularly in the big surf nations,” Crocker said. “For us to be screened in San Diego, to a room of hard core California surfers is a genuine honor and a massive deal for British surfing.”

Bird Huffman, owner of the Shed, said the festival was a complete success, and was impressed with the quality and variety of films.
“The films were great with a bit more polish on them perhaps than the year before…with a wider variety of artsy influences,” Huffman said. “It’s hard to put a top moment on the list in general, but the Greg Long film and the Q&A after was all time. I’m looking forward to next year already.”

Bird Huffman and Peter Townend Talkin' Story

What began as a venue to carry on the tradition of the “gathering of the tribes” has transformed into one of the most sought-after surf film festivals around the globe. SDSFF 2013 had a total of 75 film submissions from around the world, and another day was even added to the festival so more films could be seen.

“The SDSFF 2013 line-up was the finest in surf cinema and we praise the independent filmmakers for all of their incredible work,” Kavanagh said. “The SDSFF has an incredible spirit to it and I’m proud to be a part of it. This was my SDSFF Saturday, for example: I woke up early and headed down to a packed morning Beach Clean‐Up and Stokefest. About 50 people were already there scouring the shoreline and beyond for any signs of trash to collect. I have to tell you, this has to be one of my favorite sights in the world. This alone, made my day. But wait, there’s more. I headed back to Bird’s Surf Shed for a full day of amazing films and about a dozen director  Q&As. The final film set included Sine Qua Non: The Psychology of Big Wave Surfing with Greg Long, and was followed by a 40-minute spell‐binding Q&A with Long. Put it this way, when things get gnarly in the line‐up this summer my mantra will be, ‘What would Greg Long do?’ As if this wasn’t enough, we all walked down the street to the Griffin, the SDSFF music venue, to listen to Tom Curren. Yep, Tom Curren. If this is all a dream, please don’t wake me.”

Arianna Photopoulos, who was part of a 12-member East Coast contingency that traveled to San Diego for the SDSFF, is also still reverberating with stoke.  She said the propelling energy that drove her New England surf family westward to attend SDSFF began with filmmaker friends Dylan Ladds and Ryan Scura (New England Blood).
“As a surf artist, photographer and current film student, the festival offered a spectacular opportunity to stoke that passion organically with countless like-minded people,” said Photopoulos. “Viewing so many talented and inspired films was a truly phenomenal experience. One high point was when Dylan and Ryan introduced their film New England Blood. We watched like the passionate New England surfers we are, frothing with a sense of pride in their work.

“The kinetic assembly of ocean-minded filmmakers, surf craftsmen, artists, musicians, and simply stoked individuals is only a fraction of the attraction,” she added about SDSFF. “The venue is incentive enough. Bird's Surf Shed is easily one of the most essential collections of surf history under one roof. Each board placed in the rafters expresses a crucial importance in relation to the development and success of wave riding over the years. The family of surf-savvy characters staffing the shed, namely Bird himself, could not have been more gracious and cultured hosts. Driving this train of kindled enthusiasm was another amazing crew: Pierce and Petra Kavanagh, the quintessential stoke ambassadors, as well as others who made the event a reality. All were welcomed with hoots and shakas in abundance. The festival would not have been possible without these sensational people. We are all absolutely grateful to have met and vibed with them and so many other radical humans. I am still filled to the brim with stoke and love of San Diego. I cannot wait to come back.”

New England Stoke! From L to R, Adam Fraser, Michael Emery and filmmaker Dylan Ladds. Photo courtesy of Adam Fraser

Also along for the New England stoke-packed adventure was Adam Fraser.
“We all feel like we're a part of this amazing global surf community, and SDSFF gave us all an opportunity to keep in touch with people in that community outside of our neck of the woods, to meet creative people, see the fruits of their labor, and revel in their stoke,”  Fraser said. “The SDSFF was definitely about so much more than the films. Meeting Matt Beard and the other artists and shapers and watching them make works of art right in front of us was fantastic.”

Both Dylan Ladds and Ryan Scura were stoked to have such an overwhelming New England presence to support their film during SDSFF.
“It's really cool that we've been involved with the festival since its start last year, and it's just getting better and better,” Scura said. “Bird's Shed is the perfect venue for this amazing collection of films. All filmmakers need to show their work, and festivals are often the best opportunities to do so. Having a surf-specific film festival in one of the biggest surf cultures (San Diego) in the world is fantastic for independent surf filmmakers. We are able to show our films to a large audience and get immediate feedback, which is extremely useful to us. It's also a great way to meet other filmmakers and make connections.”

Better book those tickets for next year: Kavanagh and his crew are already planning SDSFF 2014, which, he said will blow even more minds.  “Petra and I are honored and astonished at the overwhelming response from our local surf community and the global surf family as well. Without their support none of this would be possible and we look forward to our return next May."

 

 

For more information about the San Diego Surf Film Festival, visit http://sandiegosurffilmfestival.com/

The SDSFF 2013 video below by Dan Foote at Verb TV says it all:

Hoots & Shakas!

SDSFF FILMMAKER INTERVIEW SERIES TAKE 2: NATHAN OLDFIELD

Filmmaker Nathan Oldfield Opens His Heart and Lens to the Sea

By Andrea Siedsma

On the Central Coast of New South Whales, Australia, Nathan Oldfield shares his time between being a husband, father, school teacher, surfer, shaper, photographer and filmmaker.  While his time is limited, he continues to impress and mesmerize us with his deep and beautiful surf films, including “Lines from a Poem,” “Seaworthy,” and his latest “The Heart & The Sea,” which opens the San Diego Surf Film Festival on May 9 at Bird’s Surf Shed.

Below, Nathan takes some time out from a family holiday to talk about the drive and joy behind “The Heart & The Sea,” the benefits and challenges of being an independent filmmaker, and what’s next on his film roll.

What was the inspiration behind The Heart and the Sea?
After my last film, ‘Seaworthy,’ I almost felt like I’d shared everything I could personally about how meaningful and worthwhile surfing is. But then some new ideas started to stir in my heart and I felt like there was something else to explore and communicate in a new film. The film is called ‘The Heart & The Sea’ because it’s about what is important to me in life – healthy relationships and surfing. For lots of us who have surfed our whole lives, there is this beautiful intimacy with the sea that we have in common with our family and friends. The sea brings us together. Surfing gives us many gifts, but perhaps the greatest of these are the deep connections we make with other people through sharing the experience of surfing. I thought this was an idea that was worth taking a look at it in a surf film. So the inspiration behind the film is pretty simple really. It’s a surf movie, but it’s also about surfing lives. I tried to include everyone across the spectrum: kids, elders, men, women, grandparents, husbands, wives, families. Really, it’s a film about joy.

What do you want people to come away with from the film?
I think the film is really centered around gratitude for being alive and sharing surfing with friends. If anyone who watched my film felt a little more stoked and thankful about the gift of surfing, then I’d be a happy filmmaker.

Nathan behind the lens

What is the most rewarding and exciting thing about being an independent filmmaker?
I guess at the end of the day I feel that I’m wired with the need to make things, and filmmaking is an avenue for me to explore that creative drive. It’s personally rewarding for me to make something that is hopefully beautiful, and something that I can be proud of. Apart from that, the thing that my wife Eliza and I are really grateful for over the last 10 years is that my filmmaking has supported our family. The financial return from surf films is really modest, but it has supplemented my teacher’s wage and enabled Eliza to be a stay-at-home-mum, which was always our goal. The other special thing is all the family adventures we have had. When I go away to shoot – whether it’s here in Australia or overseas – I bring my family with me as much as possible. We are really thankful to have shared those experiences of travel with our kids, and without my surf films it’s something we wouldn’t have been able to afford. And the other thing that I’m so thankful for in making surf films has been the people I have met and the lifelong friendships that I’ve discovered along the way.

What is most challenging?
Making a surf film from start to finish entirely on your own is a mammoth task. Throw in the fact that I’m a full-time primary school teacher as well as a husband and a father of three and it becomes even more difficult. So time management is the biggest challenge, as well as sustaining the passion to stay committed to the vision. The low points have been those times when I’ve been overwhelmed with the sheer size of the task. It’s been a long road over the last three years of making The Heart & The Sea, and it has taken an enormous amount of creative energy and time. There were moments along that journey where I questioned whether it was worth it, and indeed if I’d ever get the job done.

 

Nathan enjoying some spray in front of the lens

 What’s next?

At the moment I’m just enjoying some time out. It’s school holidays right now (in Australia) and I’m away up the coast with my family. It’s  my first holiday in over 10 years where I haven’t been shooting with someone. So it’s nice to have a break and to just hang out with the family and go surfing. But I’ve also been working on a few little edits for online shorts and I have some dreams about future projects. We will wait and see where they head.

To find out what else Nathan is up to check out his web site and blog. 

*THURSDAY, MAY 9TH - SAN DIEGO SURF FILM FESTIVAL 2013 OPENING NIGHT 
7:00-10:30pm: (SET 1)
THE HEART AND THE SEA – Nathan Oldfield

Shorts:
NEW ENGLAND BLOOD - Dylan Ladds and Ryan Scura
THE PRESENT MOMENT - Will Suto
OF SOULS + WATER: THE WARRIOR - Skip Armstrong

*Filmmaker Q&A
*Music guest: VAMANOS
*Food and beverages provided 

Location: Bird’s Surf Shed, 1091 W. Morena Blvd., SD
* After-party at the Griffin featuring music by:
ALEKESAM