Shredding: A New Lens in Surf Filmmaking

Filmmakers will be onsite for a Q&A after the screening.

Shredding is a short surf film program that invites both lifelong diehards and the uninitiated alike to re-examine how surfing is culturally framed. Within the context of the sport, the term “shredding” has had difficulty escaping its mocking association with a certain archetypal image of the surfer, caricatures like Jeff Spicoli, Bodhi, Zack Morris, etc. Rather than merely decrying this apparent lack of representation, Shredding affirmatively undermines those cumbersome and outdated stereotypes by sharing the experiences of those whose very presence on a board redefines the discourse. Through contemporary lenses from as far afield as Morocco to up and down the California coast, we get to see how people are expanding the surf space today. Myriad perspectives, uniquely shaped by similar challenges: feeling seen, gaining access, and eventually, changing that archetypal image of what a surfer looks like.

Each film incrementally opens up that much more space for someone new to try, welcoming their identity and interpretation into the surfing lexicon, with others then feeling welcome to follow suit. After Shredding, it seems irrefutable that surfing really is for everyone. Any time or place they can get to the beach, the rhythmic beat of the waves will be there waiting. Going deeper still, what remains after the shredding of this homogenous cultural image is a shifted focus to what’s actually most important: how surfing makes you feel. The implicit lesson being that, in spite of differences about who that surfer is and where they come from, or their respective struggles at getting there, the joy experienced upon arriving at any place where the waves break seems almost universal. A kindred calling to the water, a sense of freedom, a transcendental escape from temporality, a feeling of clarity, a communing with nature.

What Shredding says most emphatically is that surfing is love.

Program Schedule

Eternal Sea by Arne JinAn Wong: 2:46

On the Water I Disappear by Rabbi Chel Mandell and Lo Frentz: 5:04
Often, religion and spirituality exist in a realm separate from surfing. Rabbi Chel Mandell, a gender-
expansive trans surfer and rabbi, traces the tender intersections of these seemingly opposing
identities through vulnerable storytelling of their experiences on the water. They offer reflections
filled with nuance, complexity, and love. The visuals unfold along their home coastline in Northern
California, on the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi tribe.

Amazigh by Serra Soyupak: 8:10
A young Amazigh woman breaks free from tradition to chase her dream of surfing, telling her
powerful story in her native Tamazight.

Tube Rider by Arne JinAn Wong: 00:12

Gender Outlaw by Peter Williams: 15:59
Gender Outlaw, a bodysurfing story, is a documentary that navigates the tumultuous waters that Tyler
Wilde, a transgender bodysurfer and teacher has had to move through as he searched for big surf, his
true self and his chosen family.

Karma by Arne JinAn Wong: 1:11

WIPEOUTS by Nesrine Majzoub: 14:17
WIPEOUTS is about collective power and community for BIPOC girls, women, and gender-expansive
people who surf. Inspired by a sentiment heard at programs lead by Oakland organization, Salted
Roots, WIPEOUTS is about creating space for one another to fall, taking up space in the ocean, and
building community in an otherwise white-male-dominated sport.

The Inevitable Return by Zachary Zezima: 27:34
An exploration of how military technology and atomic testing became entangled in contemporary surfing amongst the militarized beaches of the San Diego area. Using vérité footage and animation, the film follows Shuuluk, a Kumeyaay surfer, who interacts daily with the resulting effects and complexities of occupation on his land and in his sport, and reclaims it as a practice of joy, play, and connection.

When I Look at the Ocean I Want to Cry by Yusuf Demirörs: 6:41
A moving diary and surf film captured on Super 8 film that details the experiences of the filmmaker at a
Queersurf camp organized in Northern California.