The sixth annual Wavescapes Surf Film Festival, presented by the Save Our Seas Foundation, will run for 18 days between 2 and 20 December in Cape Town. A broad mix of surfing films, from eulogies about waves to gritty documentaries, will be screened at the festival.
This bumper edition of Wavescapes includes a special exhibition of decorated surfboards by acclaimed South African artists, which will be on show for the first week at the VEO Gallery, followed by a gala art auction by comedian Mark Sampson on 9 December. Proceeds of the auction go to ocean focused charities including the NSRI and Shark Spotters. Last year, R119,000 was raised.
On 11 December, the opening film of the festival will screen under the stars at Clifton Fourth Beach. This year, an even bigger screen is planned for the movie, which last year attracted 3,000 people. The evening at Clifton, described as the most beautiful cinema in the world, is followed by a week of shows at the Labia Cinema in the city and a seaside surfer hangout in Kalk Bay called the Brass Bell.
Among the exciting line-up of films is the locally made film Black People Don’t Swim, which recounts the story of Kwezi Qika, a champion longboarder who has overcome great odds to reach the pinnacle of his sport.
Fly in the Champagne, a drama-filled action film, documents the fiercest rivalry in professional surfing: Andy Irons versus Kelly Slater. The footage in Inside Teahupoo at this world famous reef break in Tahiti marks another leap in the technology of filming waves from inside the curling tube.
Glacier Project follows two big wave surfers from warmer climes to the frigid wastelands of Alaska, where they attempt to surf mini-tsunamis created by cliff-sized chunks of ice falling from a melting glacier.
A highlight is Musica Surfica, an award-winning documentary that represents the intersection of art, music and surfing, starring Australian surf legend Derek Hynd and Richard Tognetti, leading violinist and Artistic Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra who experiments with his R65-million Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù violin while Hynd conducts the symphony riding a range of finless surfboards.
For more details log onto www.wavescapes.co.za
