Film festival makes waves for surfing lovers

The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Thu, 08/20/2009 1:25 PM  |  Surfing Bali

Making waves: A Fly in the Champagne, about the rivalry between nine-time world champion Kelly Slater and three-time world champion Andy Irons, will be screened outdoors at the Kuta Reef beach on Thursday night. Courtesy of Ombak Bali

For local and international lovers of surfing, it’s time to leave the waves and head to the theater for the Ombak Bali International Surf Film Festival.

The four-day festival will indulge surfing — and film — enthusiasts with the screening of 13 movies on the personal trials and tribulations of surf icons and, most importantly, the challenges they have to overcome as a community.

The film directors will attend screenings to present their movies to the audience.

“It will be an awesome cinematic event, particularly for those who love waves and would like to see how the world’s greatest surfers ride the waves of their life,” Ombak Bali’s press officer I Putu Eka
Dharmarta said.

Ombak Bali is a platform for national and international surf-filmmakers to present their films to an interested public.

Surf cinema has taken a leap during the past couple of years with filmmakers exploring the surfing world and using the medium to convey broader messages.

It is the only independent surf-film festival in Southeast Asia.

“The festival headliner is the premiere of the much anticipated new film by Taylor Steele, The Drifter, about surfing icon Rob Machado roaming through Indonesia,” Eka said.

Capturing the journey of the surfer through a different land, culture and waves, The Drifter is a
visual metaphor for a free spirit’s conscious abandonment of the worldly traps of modern life as he searches for the inner freedom and spiritual joy offered by a life of renunciation. A two-minute trailer of this film is available at www.poorspecimen.com.

The Ombak Bali festival kicked off on Wednesday evening with an invitation-only party.

Yet the real fun will start Thursday with an outdoor screening at the Kuta Reef beach right in front of the Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel.

Entry is free.

The screening will start at 4 p.m. and will feature two movies A Fly in the Champagne and the Ombak Bali production Mata Ombak (Tip of the Wave).

The first tells the story of the intense rivalry between surfing world champions Kelly Slater and Andy Irons while the latter is a documentary about three Balinese beach boys who succeed in becoming professional surfers.

“It will be the world premiere of Mata Ombak, a movie produced in 2009 and directed by Renny Bee
Febriani,” Eka added.

Before the beach screening, the audience will be asked to participate in several activities, including a beach cleanup co-organized by local environmental NGO Gelombang Udara Segar (GUS) and a surf yoga group.

“A popular local band, The Hydrant, will also perform during the beach screening,” Eka added.

On Aug. 21 and 22, films will be screened indoors in the hotel’s Discovery room. Entry tickets are Rp 20,000 per person.

Among the films screened will be the Asian premiere of Archy (Bill Ballard/2008), Dear & Yonder (Andria Lessler and Tiffany Campbell/2009), Havana Surf (Rodrigo Diaz McVeigh/2008) and Whitewash (Ted Woods/2008).

Archy narrates an amazing story of survival through surf stardom at an early age, fame, alcohol,
sponsorships and the surf/rock-star lifestyle, finally shedding light on the true story of one of the most charismatic and legendary surfers in history.

Leading women surfers feature in Dear & Yonder, an ocean odyssey of the female kind.

Havana Surf is an interesting story about some youngsters from communist Cuba who are developing a passion for surfing, but the long-lasting embargo — mainly by the US — stops them from getting the necessary equipment to fully enjoy their new sport.

Whitewash is a gritty narrative about the complexity of race in the US presented through the struggles and triumphs of black surfers. The story is narrated by Grammy-award winning musician Ben Harper.
Two other interesting movies are Out There and Mengejar Ombak (Dave Arnold and Tyrone Lebon/2008).

Out There is a 16 mm surfing film produced by Tetongravity research and the Surfrider Foundation that takes a thought-provoking look at the environmental destruction threatening known and unknown surf spots around the world.

Mengejar Ombak (Chasing the Waves) is a personal insight into the life of Dede Suryana, a young and talented surfer from a small fishing community in Java.

The range of topics captures the aims of the festival, Eka said.

“The festival tries to bring forward a diverse array of cinematic themes in an effort to show that surfing is not a one-dimensional realm.”







Ombak Bali International Surf Film Festival

Until Aug. 22
Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel, Kuta
For the full program, see www.ombakbali.com

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