Surf Film Festival hits Sydney

Heads-up (or should that be surf’s-up?). Whatever, all dudes/dudettes should take note because a spectacular two-week celebration of surf cinema and culture is heading to Australia’s original surf city. Excitingly, the first year of the O’Neill Sydney Surf Film Festival is hitting two Sydney’s iconic surfing destinations – Manly and Bondi – later this month.

Kicking-off on January 20th, the festival will offer two weeks of incredible surf film screenings, photographic exhibitions and live music events as part of the citywide annual celebration of surf culture.

Multi award-winning Australian film ‘Out In The LineUp’ directed by Sydneysider Ian W. Thompson can be caught on the big screen uncovering the taboo of homosexuality in surfing. Filmed across several locations from Australia, California, Mexico and Brazil, the film aims to introduce an open culture into the surfing industry. Catch the screenings at Bondi Pavilion and ICMS Manly.

That’s just one of a whole heap of good shit that’s going down over the fortnight. SSFF Event Director Nick Stevenson told us: “We are so pleased to be launching SSFF in the peak of summer across the beach communities of Sydney. Filmmaking has been at the heart of the surf industry since its inception, with classic films such as Bruce Brown’s ‘The Endless Summer’ to Kai Neville’s ‘Dear Suburbia’. Surf films shape and influence generations of surfers and part of the vision for establishing the festival was to share a wide and diverse line up of Australian and international films with the public of Sydney.”

After weeks of head-scratching, the official selection of films for 2015 was decided by the festival’s screening panel of surf industry personalities, including Joel Coleman, Stuart Nettle and Paul Witzig. They’ve come up with a programme of diverse Australian and international films showcasing spectacular surfing, in-depth documentaries and unique surfing experiences.

The O’Neill Sydney Film Festival will launch at The Bucket List, right on Bondi Beach, followed by two weeks of film screenings in Bondi Pavilion and ICMS in Manly. A line-up of cool satellite events, parties and photographic exhibitions are also included in the festival programme. Screening and tickets details are at www.ssff.com.au

Check out the SSFF Facebook page to stay up to date with all the announcements.