Presented by Office of Supervisor Connie Chan, District 1; Another Planet Entertainment; CinemaSF; Tunnel Records; and Mollusk Surf Shop:
THE FIRST ANNUAL OCEAN BEACH SURF FILM FESTIVAL
Friday September 13 through Sunday September 15
At the Historic Balboa Theater, 3630 Balboa St, SF 94121
TICKETS at balboamovies.com
THE FIRST ANNUAL OCEAN BEACH SURF FILM FESTIVAL celebrates the San Francisco surf scene, combining a mix of classic and modern surf films with live music and a healthy dose of local surf history for three days and nights at the Historic Balboa Theater, just blocks away from where it all began…
San Francisco’s Richmond District has been the home of the City’s surf scene since Kelly’s Cove first became a surf spot in the late 1940s. One Kelly's bodysurfer, Jack O'Neill, opened a surf shop at the beach in 1952, and developed the first commercially available wetsuit in response to the frigid water of Ocean Beach. Kelly's Cove visitors reflected and developed a California surfing ethos with roots in Polynesian culture as well as alternative and counterculture movements developing in postwar San Francisco. Elements of Eastern religions, conservation, and a soulful connection to nature, associated now with poets and writers such as Gary Snyder and Michael McClure, were present in wave rider philosophies espoused and nurtured by many at Kelly's Cove. This athletic spiritualism at Kelly's seemed to evolve as a nature-focused counterpoint to San Francisco's Beat and Summer of Love scenes in the 1950s and 1960s. For a time, the Family Dog called The Great Highway home, and the rock n roll scene intertwined with the surf scene to create a unique and magical melding of the minds.
As time and surfing progressed, many more breaks along Ocean Beach were found and today the local surf culture is thriving up and down Ocean Beach. Hundreds of surfers can be seen in the water on any given day, and local surf culture has been passed down from generation to generation just as the surf shop baton has been passed from Jack O’Neill’s first surf shop, to Wise Surfboards, to Aqua and Mollusk Surf Shops and beyond.
Friday September 13
ENDLESS SUMMER (1966) on original Technicolor 16mm film, at 5pm and 8pm
TRILOGY: NEW WAVE at 7pm
Friday's screening of ENDLESS SUMMER will be shown on an original, pristine 16mm Technicolor print discovered by local film archivist Jon Bastion. This seminal 1966 surf classic will be screened in its original format for the first time in decades in San Francisco. Friday will also feature a premiere screening of TRILOGY: NEW WAVE (2024), which follows three of the best surfers in the world: Griffin Colapinto, Seth Moniz, and Ethan Ewing on an epic eight-trip surf adventure. The three explore the world’s most sought after surf spots in a search for true happiness, while also competing against one another.
Saturday September 14
Thomas Campbell’s THE SEEDLING with live narration by Thomas Campbell and live musical score by Tommy Guerrero, 5pm and 8pm
POINT BREAK (1991) at 12 noon
Educational presentation of SANCTUARY SHARKS OF THE DEEP by Rogue Shark Lab and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, 1pm
NORTH SHORE (1987) at 2pm
Saturday's programming ighlighted by two evening screenings of Thomas Campbell’s THE SEEDLING (1999), a documentary about a small pod of log riders shot entirely on 16mm film. The movie will be live narrated by THOMAS CAMPBELL and accompanied by live music by local skate and surf legend TOMMY GUERRERO. In the lobby and one theater, our pals at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Rogue Shark Lab will host a fun and educational matinee event called SANCTUARY SHARKS OF THE DEEP to celebrate sharks in the sanctuary, highlight all of our community partners, gather like-minded folks that appreciate ocean recreation and conservation, and let folks know what they can do to help protect our local sanctuaries. To round out the Saturday programming, a campy afternoon screening of NORTH SHORE (1987) will get everybody in the fun surf mood, and a screening of everybody’s favorite surf heist classic POINT BREAK (1991) with Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves!
Sunday September 15
LIVE MUSIC by THE MERMEN & PLOVVER outdoors on Balboa Street (between 37th and 38th Avenues), noon to 5pm
FREE SCREENINGS of local surf filmmakers' short films and episodes of WEIRD WAVES from 12 noon to 5pm
Grant Washburn's CHASING BIG WAVES at 6pm
We will be closing down Balboa Street between 37th and 38th Avenue between noon and 5pm and presenting a free concert on the street featuring local surf rock legends THE MERMEN, with vendors, face painting for the kids, and DJ sets by the Tunnel Records Crew. Simultaneously, we will have both screens going inside the Balboa Theater with free local surf films curated by Nathan Zack playing and episodes of Dylan Graves’ WEIRD WAVES . Sunday at 6pm we will have a premiere of Grant Washburn’s CHASING BIG WAVES, featuring footage from Maverick’s past and present with a moderated discussion to follow with big wave surfers from the first generation to the current generation.