STAR-BULLETIN / 2001

Surf’s up Mark’s Garage

"Catch a wave, you'll be sitting on top of the world ..."

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Star-Bulletin Staff

That immortal line from the Beach Boys song would serve the New Waves Film Festival well. The surfing film festival starts Wednesday and will run weekly to early September at the ARTS at Marks Garage, 1159 Nuuanu Ave. Tickets for each day's screening will be $6, with soda, coffee and snacks available in the gallery. Call 521-2903 for more information.

Here's the festival schedule. Films screen at 7 and 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

Wednesday and July 5

"Gondwana": Produced with pro surfer Pancho Sullivan, this film features top surfers -- Sunny Garcia, Andy and Bruce Irons, Miles Padacca, Braden Dias, Rob Machado, Jamie O'Brien, Manoa Drollet and more -- in their respective disciplines. It includes footage from Tahiti, the North Shore, West Australia, Maverick's, Indonesia and the South Pacific.

July 17 and 18

"Backdoor Shootout" and "Maverick's": The North Shore's Ehukai Beach is the setting for "Backdoor's" display of surfing prowess among both local and international surfers at the 1999 Shootout and its purse of $200,000.

"Maverick's" is about the notorious surf spot just north of Half Moon Bay in Northern California. For decades, surfers considered the monster four-story waves unrideable. Along came Jeff Clark, who paddled out alone at age 17 in 1975 and did the unthinkable. For the next 15 years, Clark was the only rider fool enough to tackle Maverick's thunderous beatings. The footage is awesome. All of the rides invoke real terror, particularly one in which local surfer Mark Foo lost his life.

July 30 and 31

"Surfing for Life" and "Waves of Serenity": Screens at 8 p.m. "Surfing for Life," narrated by Beau Bridges, profiles 10 legendary surfers who are staying active and engaged into their 70s and 80s. Through interviews, contemporary footage and rare archival material, the film features Anona Napoleon, John Kelly, Woody Brown, Fred Van Dyke, Eve Fletcher, Rabbit Kekai, Peter Cole and Shay Bintliff.

In "Waves," local cinematographer Mike Prickett will introduce this film, which displays techniques he has used to capture surf footage around the world, including many of the films included in this series.

Aug. 7 and 8

"Year of the Drag-In": The Maverick's winter of 1999-'00 will be remembered for a handful of surfers who took on the biggest waves ever ridden in California. This was tow-in surfing at its best. Pioneered in the early '90s by Laird Hamilton, Darrick Doerner and Buzzy Kerbox in Hawaii, tow-in surfing remained a well-kept secret until 1995.

Aug. 26 and 27

"Whipped!": From the producers of "Year of the Drag-In" comes an even gnarlier big-wave surf video! It was the winner of the 2001 X-Games Tube Action Sports Film Festival Viewer's Choice Award. "Whipped!" features big-wave surf legends Peter Mel, Jay Moriarity, Mark "Occy" Occhilupo, Grant Washburn, Jeff Clark and Kelly Slater.

Sept. 4 and 5

"Strapped: Origins of Big Wave Surfing" and "Laird": In "Strapped," originators of big-wave surfing -- Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama, Rush Randall, Pete Cabrinha, Darrick Doerner, Mike Waltz, Brett Lickle and Mark Angullo -- take you on a visual history of tow-in wave riding, from its conception to its perfection at "Jaws" on Maui.

"Laird" focuses on Hamilton's unrideable wave in Tahiti. He stood in its vortex and shocked the world with a feat matched only by the footage shown here.

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