Laird Hamilton
It unfolds over eight days of sleep-deprived chaos and follows Jack, a down-on-his-luck fitness expert living with his mother in Los Angeles, who takes a maniacal swing at fame and fortune, trying to realize his version of the American dream.
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger travels the globe with legendary windsurfer and pioneering waterman Robby Naish, a 24-time world champion whose quest to master the world's longest waves unexpectedly reveals his vulnerabilities as a competitor, mentor and father. THE LONGEST WAVE transcends the action sports genre by capturing obstacles outside of the legendary athlete's professional life in an intimate, cinéma-vérité style, revealing Naish balancing the pursuit of excellence at sea with the demands of life's complications on land.
This is the remarkable story of an American icon who changed the sport of big wave surfing forever. Transcending the surf genre, this in-depth portrait of a hard-charging athlete explores the fear, courage and ambition that push a man to greatness—and the cost that comes with it.
That First Glide, filmed and directed by Mike Waltze, takes us on an informative and thrilling ride into the world of SUP, or Stand Up Paddle. This documentary covers the little known origins of the sport and follows it's evolution all the way up to today's massive wave of global interest that is making SUP the fastest growing water sport in the world. Some of the original old timers in early Waikiki, as well as today's greatest water men, share their stories of how this sport changed their lives and how it has progressed into a sport that anyone can enjoy at any level. The film includes breath taking footage from Hawaii, Fiji, and Tahiti
Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.
No special effects. No stuntmen. No stereotypes. No other feeling comes close. Surfers and secret spots from around the world are profiled in this documentary.
Teahupoo, Tahiti. On the 17th of August, 2000, a line was drawn in the sand and Laird Hamilton stood alone. Engulfed in the vortex of the heaviest wave ever ridden, Laird Hamilton stood where no man had ever stood before. Death was the only outcome if a mistake was made. The footage shocked the world. Had it not been captured on film, no one would believe it was possible. It was a moment shadowed only by the journey of his life as a waterman and explorer of the most pure form of energy on earth. This amazing film, shoot on both High Definition and 35mm, won numerous awards at the 2002 X-dance Film Festival. This is the extreme movie of the year, quite possibly the decade.
From letting go of the two rope to rocketing into the channel in a gale of compressed air and spray, the apex of one man's life all came together in a mere ten seconds which shook the surfing world. In August of 2000, Hawaiian big wave waterman Laird Hamilton, one of the creators of tow surfing, was pulled into the largest wave of the day by jet ski in the sleepy town of Teahupo'o. Broadcast internationally by CNN, Reuters and AAP news feeds, Hamilton's feat including being sling shot over a thick ledge where the wave hit the reef and almost tripled in size, which would have ended in severe injury or death if not successfully executed. The entire story of this amazing trip to Tahiti is documented a film The Surfers Journal hails as "the greatest combination of soul surfing and cutting edge futuristic surfing like never before seen!"
Never in the history of surfing has the ocean roared as hard and as full-on as Wednesday the 28th of January 1998. The coast guard called out a warning advisory calling for a Condition Black otherwise known "get the heck out of there." Shot with the technological innovations brought by IMAX, this provides some stunning birds eye view shots of a wave traveling to where it breaks. Biggest Wednesday was shot at two locations. On Maui, Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama and Buzzy Kerbox took on the biggest day ever filmed at Jaws, their home big-wave break. Meanwhile on Oahu's North Shore, Ross Clarke-Jones, Tony Ray, Cheyne Horan, Ken Bradshaw, Shawn Briley, and Noah Johnson rode the biggest waves in the history of surfing at outside Log Cabins.
Greg Stump's Groove is shot in 1991 during the Gulf War questions the pursuits of pleasure in times of political heaviness. Scot Schmidt, Dan Donnelly, Davey McCoy,Tom Jungst, Ace Mackay-Smith, Jimbo Morgan, Kevin Andrews, Rob Boyd, Laird Hamilton and Chip & Pepper go extreme skiing and boarding in locations including France's Val D'Isere, Mammoth Mountain, and Valdez. Music includes 808 State, Seal, Hoodlum Priest, Bin Master, So.L.A. and Iggy Pop.
On a small stretch of coastline as powerful as a man's will, Rick Kane came to surf the big waves. He found a woman who would show him how to survive, and a challenge unlike any other.
