BIRTH OF THE ENDLESS SUMMER

DOCUMENTARY | 83 MINS | USA/SOUTH AFRICA | DIRECTOR:RICHARD YELLAND | PRODUCER: ALEX MECL | AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE

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Birth of The Endless Summer follows Californian surf pioneer, Dick Metz, as he vagabonds the globe from 1958-1961-revealing the untold story behind one of the most watched and beloved documentaries of all time, The Endless Summer.

Not so long ago the world was filled with seemingly endless, and still unknown, perfect waves. There were only the discovered breaks of California and Hawaii making headlines in the burgeoning arena of surf filmmakers lead by Bud Browne, Jon Severson, the founder of Surfer magazine, and Bruce Brown to follow.

The Endless Summer is one of the most beloved and influential documentaries of all time–“A perfect movie,” said the New Yorker. Every surfer’s dream in the 1950’s was to explore foreign places and find a wave that’d never been ridden.

But what was the dream before the dream? What was the inspiration required of a surfer before The Endless Summer of 1966? Rewind the clock to 1958 in Laguna Beach, CA. Pioneering surfers like Dick Metz and “Peanuts” Larson were exploring the waves in their backyard at San Onofre. Hobie Alter started making wood boards out of his Dad’s garage on Oak St. It’d become the nexus of surf culture that’d fuel the explosion of the surf industry not many years later.

As Metz charts his around-the-world surf journey, spanning 1958-1961 he reveals the story behind the discovery of breaks that’d become legend in The Endless Summer.

How could one idea first, then one film, next, transform so many?

The quest for the meaning – itʼs the search beyond whatʼs known, that gives our lives purpose. In this crowded world, the surfer can still seek and find that perfect day, the perfect wave, and be alone in the surf with his thoughts. – John Severson