Presenting a special screening of Surf Nation, followed by a Q&A with the directors and featuring a silent auction. Doors open at 7:00 PM and the film plays at 7:30 PM. Proceeds raised go to the Maui Relief Fund, who are working to provide support in the wake of the devastating fires.
Thursday 14, December
With unprecedented access, Surf Nation is a feature-length observational documentary that tells a story beginning in Hainan, China’s southernmost province where hundreds of athletes as young as 9-years-old train as part of the Chinese National Surf team. These young recruits have left their families around the country and are paid to become surfers with Olympic aspirations.
Shot in a tropical paradise with miles of empty beaches, aspiring athletes and their international coaches live in an old hotel that has become the hub of surfing in China.
Over a period of two years, we follow two of China’s top surfers, Alex, 17, who dreams of competing at the highest levels of pro surfing but has contempt for training, and Lolo, 22, who rejects a traditional life for a Chinese woman and surfs despite her parents’ disapproval. We follow them as they train with the team, compete - and most of all, discover what they want their lives to be.