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A Masterclass In Artful Simplicity

Nothing forced, nothing wasted, with Malia Manuel and Morgan Maassen

cinema // Feb 28, 2023
Words by Holden Trnka
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Modern cameras allow anyone with a couple hundred bucks to manufacture a nice image.

Possibly even a compelling video.

But, to create true immersion, to evaporate the separation between screen and receptors, true talent is required. Not just behind the lens, but in front of it as well.

As such, the quadruple-M pairing of Malia Manuel and Morgan Maassen is intoxicating.

We’ll be featuring a full piece with words from Morgan, regarding this film, in the coming week. For now, consume yourself with knock-knees and artfully corrected color, choreographed over scenes of Africa and various archipelagos.

A backlit rail burying of the highest order. Photo by Morgan Maassen

“It was nothing short of a pleasure to hop around the world with Malia, from dancing with Humpback Whales to watching elephants pick fruit from trees in South Africa, sailing through Indian ocean archipelagos and being blistered by winter wind in the Atlantic.

We scored waves of all shapes and sizes, sampled cuisine and smelly taxi rides across multiple continents, surfed in the belting rain and counted bands on poisonous sea snakes… I could go on and on, with so many experiences that could fill an anthology of films.

But in-between all those moments I strived to capture with my lens, I watched a woman continuously spill her curiosity out into the world, while constantly striving to hone her athletic ability… and so I made a visual tale about a world-class human, surfing her way around the globe.”

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