This weekend Coffs Harbour surfers will get a chance to soak up some primo visuals as Screen Wave makes its debut at the Jetty Memorial Theatre on August 30 (that’s this Saturday, folks). The all day, early evening festival covers an eclectic range of genres, styles, eras and cinematic approaches. There’s something for everyone from groms to grans.
The festival begins with some super rare 1920s shorts about the seaside with live piano accompaniment from Heather Rose. The countercultural classic Morning of the Earth gets a run as well as a revealing doco about one of its featured surfers, Searching for MP. Gen X surfers will be treated to a flashback of their VHS grommethood with the Jack McCoy favourite, The Green Iguana. The original Puberty Blues will screen as well the lesser known feature, Palm Beach which stars Bryan Brown as a surfboard shaper and has been promisingly described as “a hedonistic tale of surf, drugs and rock n roll”.
A scene from the Australian classic, Puberty Blues.
Indy filmmaker Nathan Oldfield’s latest offering The Heart and the Sea will also get the big screen treatment and will surely be a highlight. Three years in the making and starring a who’s who of left-field surfers (Rasta, Knost, Wegner, Joske, Tudor, Del Moro, Baggs, Burch) it aims to explore the relationships between family, friends and the ocean.
The big screen surf movie experience is a rare treat in the modern era but it’s most definitely the way surfing is meant to be seen. Surf flicks are made for a titanic screen, surround sound, a darkened theatre and a communal buzz. You want to get lost in all that oceanic visual surrounded by an army of like-minded, with a bucket of pop-corn in your lap.
In addition a cracking swell has been forecast for the weekend so there’s an opportunity to leave the cinema and head straight into the ocean, freshly inspired.
See: screenwave.com.au for details.
