Noa Deane, Kai Neville, Harry Bryant, Torren Martyn, Kolohe Andino, and Russell Bierke Are All Premiering Surf Films This November

This years All Hallows Eve was marked by a full moon eclipse and the largest surf contract precipice in history.

Spooky stuff.

November, however, provides a proverbial phoenix, fluttering from the doom and gloom, burgeoned by the collective creativity of some cinematic surf visionaries.

“I’m really happy to see surf premieres making a return,” Noa Deane said, barely heard over a cheering Northern Rivers crowd at last weeks Mash premiere.

We are too.

Here’s how you can get amongst it.

Mash — by Noa Deane and James Kates

Though it’s chock-full of daring slab poetry, this hour-long thriller from James Kates offers an added element of vulnerability. Through phone calls with Creed McTaggart, Shaun Manners, Noa, and his mom, Kates offers us an authentic glimpse into what makes the boog-inspired, Rage chieftain tick.

It’s also one of the most audio-visually pleasing films you’ll ever watch, with an original soundtrack and countless unseen liquid vistas.

If you missed the first two premieres in Bangalow and Newcastle, you’ve got three more chances to see the film up-close-and-personal in November.

Buy tickets here

Motel Hell — by Harry Bryant and Dave Fox

Three years in the making, Motel Hell follows Haz through a series of milk-induced wormholes, where he negotiates unfriendly bathymetry and enormous ramps to a live-scored soundtrack.

“None of it means anything, we’re not trying to tell a story, we just want to inject a bit of character and a bit of soul back into surf films,” Harry told me. “Everything is so instantaneous now, and I’m not negging out on it, I just have a different view. I’m lucky enough to be given the opportunity to work on a surf movie, and this is how I wanted to do it. Vans and Monster gave us full creative freedom, they trusted us, and this is the product of that.”

Below are all of the premiere dates — and if you manage to miss all of these, there may likely be a Stab Premium exclusive premiere at a later date. We’ll keep you updated.

‘Vacuum’ — by Kai Neville and Epokhe

Kai’s first full length film with his esoterically named sunglass brand is almost here, and it features a veritable kaleidoscope of talent, filmed over the course of roughly 18 months. From what we’ve heard, Creed McTaggart and Dakoda Walters have the most substantial parts, scattered through a very compelling collage of characters.

Reportedly, Occy also has a mysteriously incredible part comprised of unseen footage from an undisclosed source.

Though the self-proclaimed lo-fi surf film will be digitally released on November 29th, we’ll be attending the world premiere on November 16th — 7pm at the Northern Hotel in Byron Bay.

See you there.

Calypte — by Torren Martyn and Ishka Folkwell

A sailboat, a near endless expanse of Indian Ocean reef passes, and Torren Martyn.

Any guesses on how fast is this thing is gonna hit a million views?

Via Needessentials — “When Torren and Aiyana borrowed the 35ft sailing boat ‘Calypte’ and departed from the east coast of Thailand in early 2022, they had a combined sailing experience of only a few days. The one requirement of their charter was to eventually deliver the boat to Eastern Indonesia. They could learn as they went, get a few friends with sailing experience to help through the tricky bits and pick up as much as possible from them along the way. With this plan, the pair embarked onto the South China Sea, headed up through the Strait of Malacca and around the tip of Sumatra; out into the Indian Ocean on a year-long expedition in search of waves.“

Dates below, click here for more info.

Smooch — by Kolohe Andino, Jacob Vanderwork, 2% Surf

Kolohe Andino is rumored to have spent $50k on ‘Smooch’ — the first film from his community-focused feel-good club, Two Percent Surf. “I told my accountant it’s a lot better than $350k with Reckless Isolation,” he recently said. “So if I could find a way to break even on this, then I’ll do one every year. It’s too much fun.”

Playing tour manager, director, producer, mentor, and ‘cat herder’ Kolohe has been touring the film around California through the end of October. Unfortunately, unless you managed to get one of their QR coded hoodies, you’ll have to wait until mid December for the digital release.

Outermost Edge of Leisure — by Russell Bierke and Andrew Kaineder

All you’ve gotta do is stick around if you want to watch this one. Premiering on Stab Premium November 27th, Russ and Andrew’s SEOTY entry is going to be exactly as heavy as you’d expect.

“Those sessions on the South Coast were the best surfing I’d ever seen Russ do, until I filmed this session in Ireland for his new film. That was tech slab shit,” Andrew Kaineder told us, after filming his ‘Best Surfing I’ve Ever Seen.’

The 2023 SEOTY battle is much closer than last year’s Kael Walsh demolition, and we’d say nobody should be counting any Bitcoins before they’re mined.

Especially not if Russ’s monkey-wrench of an edit has anything to say about it.

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