Coming Soon: ‘Juju The Surf Musical’ Ft Jelly V, Occy, Creed + Josie Prendergast
“Occy plays a grumpy boss, which is a pretty hard character to play when you’re such a nice guy.”
Juju The Surf Musical, created by Jaleesa Vincent and Luka Raubenheimer, fuses surfing, music, teeth, hair, yin-yang philosophy, and fantasy into one surreal film.
In a world filled with cookie-cutter surf content, Juju is a full-throttle dive into the weird and wonderful. With its wild mix of fantasy, music, and surfing, this film slams sanitized, predictable surf flicks to the curb, proving there’s still room for out-of-left-field creativity in a genre that’s been playing it safe for far too long.
The film follows Juju, played by Jaleesa, a receptionist who reaches her breaking point with a difficult boss (Occy) and quits in dramatic fashion. From there, Juju’s story takes a surreal turn. “She quits her job in a ball of flames and dances her way to the beach,” Jaleesa explains. What starts as a simple escape to the ocean quickly turns into something much bigger as Juju finds herself in a mystical world where light and dark forces collide.
In this alternate realm, Juju encounters Creed of the Dark (played by you know who), a mischievous deity who takes her surfing, and Queen of the Light (Josie), a more ethereal figure who weaves a magical transformation for Juju, plucking a hair from her face and weaving it through Creed’s glowing white tooth. “The story touches on the balance between these two forces, reflecting a kind of yin-yang philosophy. “It kind of plays on the light and dark forces that balance each other out,” says Jaleesa.
Though there is surfing in the film, Juju The Surf Musical is primarily driven by music and storytelling through song. “There’s not much script, it’s more just told through song,” Jaleesa shares, having written all the lyrics herself. Her band, Cupid and the Stupids, helped bring the music to life, with friends contributing vocals and harmonies that add to the dreamlike atmosphere of the film.
Visually, the film is layered with creativity. Jaleesa likens it to “a painting,” where each element—from choreography to animation—was carefully crafted to fit together. Despite being only thirty minutes long, the process involved extensive collaboration on everything from songwriting to editing. Jaleesa, working alongside director, editor and boyfriend, Luka, took a hands-on approach to the entire project.
As for the surf footage, expect some stylish sequences from spots like Deserts, Sandbar, and the Maldives, though surfing takes a backseat to the film’s overall narrative. “I kind of got skunked on my trips, but I got enough to make a musical”, says Jaleesa.
Screenings are planned for October in Japan and Australia, with the film eventually making its way online by the end of the month.This isn’t your typical surf film. Juju The Surf Musical offers a unique blend of surreal storytelling, music, and visual art, with a bit of surfing sprinkled in. If you’re looking for something offbeat and creative, this could be an unexpected gem.
