Film / DVD
Brazilian Documentary Details Tow Surfing Craze
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 26 March, 2006 : - - A documentary on tow in surfing produced by surfers in Brazil rocked the house at the recent San Diego Latino Film Festival. The documentary, called simply Tow Surfing, is a 70-minute movie detailing the thrills and chills, pleasures and perils of using motorized Personal Water Craft to hunt down and catch the biggest waves in the world.
Executive produced by Alvaro Otero and directed by Jorge Guimares and Rosaldo Cavalcanti, Tow Surfing was professionally (expensively) shot in 16 mm and 35 mm, from land, at sea and from helicopters. Most of the action was shot at Jaws on the island of Maui and it features the swell of January 7, 2002 which remains one of the biggest swells ever to be surfed at Jaws.
On that day, the first Tow In World Cup ran at Jaws, on the same day that Kelly Slater won the Eddie Aikau event at Waimea Bay. Thirteen tow teams from around the world competed for a first prize of $70,000. Garrett McNamara and Rodrigo Resende won the event, following by Mike Parsons and Brad Gerlach with Carlos Burle and Eraldo Gueiros in third.
This was a giant day at Jaws challenged by the top tow surfers in the world, and it was all captured perfectly and professionally, with stellar helicopter photography that gets across the awesome size and power of these waves. The featured surfers in the movie are Mike Parsons, Brad Gerlach, Ken Bradshaw, Carlos Burle, Dan Moore, Ryan Rawson, Archie Kalepa and Jeff Clark, among others.
Highlights of the documentary include a ride on a giant wave by Mike Parsons which scored a perfect 10 in the event and was one of the contenders for the 2002 Billabong XXL Award. That wave measured out at 66 feet and you can see every inch and detail on this documentary, from above and at sea level, in mesmerizing slow motion.
Tow Surfing is professionally, expensively produced and along with the surfing, there are interviews with all of the players who detail the history of tow surfing, the technical difficulties, the pleasures and the dangers: “I think the cinematography is the highlight of the film,” said producer Rosaldo Cavalcanti.
“Going against the whole quick-cut, MTV trend, the shorts are long. Some are more than a minute long. Most of the action footage was shot at 70 frames per second, which gives the film’s narrative a more romantic and smooth rhythm. We really tried to give it a cinema language instead of a video language.”
The stellar helicopter cinematography was captured by Director of Photography Pete Fusznard, who leaned out of the door as fearless pilot Dan Sherer flew as low as he dared. To compliment the action, Tow Surfing features a throbbing, dramatic score by Zezinho Mutarelli and a variety of Brazilian musicians
“Zezinho Mutarelli is a very well known maestro/music producer in Brazil,” Cavalcanti said. “The soundtrack has a bit of electronic music, some fusion jazz, a bit of lounge. It’s not a very common soundtrack when you think about a surf film.”
Tow Surfing is a thoroughly modern surf movie, not a documentary on this new, modern motorized sensation that is sweeping the surfing world. The documentary premiered at the American Film Market in Los Angeles in November of 2005, and most recently was one of the hits at the San Diego Latino Film Festival.
Producer Rosaldo Cavalcanti expects a theatrical release for Tow Surfing by the end of 2006. For more information, contact:
www.braziliancinema.com
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Ben Marcus
Film - Surfersvillage
