Unlocked: Oxbow’s Children Of Teahupo’o

Note: This film aired exclusively on Stab Premium for two weeks in June.

It’s foolish to attempt to describe the village of Teahupo’o with an adjective, or even a collection of them. 

Especially when you’ve got a film like this to do the lifting for you. 

Stab Premium is now hosting Oxbow’s ‘Children of Teahupo’o.’ COT is directed by Arthur Bourbon — you may remember his film ‘Water Get No Enemy’ — and intimately portrays life in the small village, and at the wave out front. 

The central figures are Tim McKenna, a French/Australian photographer who has dedicated his life to shooting the wave, Tahurai Henry, one of the most vocal figures in the fight against the Olympic tower, and Gilbert Teave, a supernaturally talented Tahitian who is not opposed to milk and cookies in the morning. 

As viewers, we get a sense of what it’s like to grow up there and what this place means to those who inhabit it — especially as it stands at a crossroads, with a visit from the biggest sporting event in the world looming only weeks away and talks of development at an all-time high. 

The film has been touring around Europe as part of Oxbow’s movie nights (catch it if you can) and will be here on Stab Premium for the next two weeks. 

Watch above, and stick around for a few questions with Arthur below. 

STAB: How much time did you spend in Tahiti for this film?
ARTHUR BOURBON: I was there for a bit more than two months, but the shoot window was about two weeks. The rest of the time, I was just there to surf for the most part. We shot the lifestyle and interviews during that two-week stretch. And we didn’t get great waves during the window, so we hardly shot any surfing. Most of the action footage is from Tim McKenna and a few different filmers — we just tried to get their best stuff from the past year and a half.

How much of the story did you have mapped out going into it?
I didn’t know Tahurai and Giblert very well. But based on some things I’d heard about them and conversations with them leading up to the shoot, I knew a bit about what they were doing and how we could feature them in the film. I wrote a plan down before going — and the movie ended up being super close to what I wrote down. It was kinda the first time I did that before shooting a documentary. 

Had you been to Tahiti before?
I went with my dad when I was 15. It was a dream trip — the waves, the people, the country. I always wanted to go back. Twenty years later, I had this film idea and talked to Tim McKenna about it. Oxbow had just pitched him a similar thing. So Tim put us in touch, and it worked out well. It allowed me to have the trip I’d been dreaming of and create the film.

Spending two months there allowed me to get to know the village and the people better. Even though the proper shoot window was two weeks, I played around with my camera the whole time. I got some shots I would have never gotten if I had only been there for two weeks.

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You’re a surfer turned self-taught filmmaker. Do you have any advice for people looking to go down that path?
Good question. I’m still trying to figure it out [laughs]. I’d just say you have to find a story. I really believe surf movies need more than surfing. Put your heart into it. Take your time and craft it. And you don’t need a good camera to make a good film. It’s more about how compelling the story is and how well you can tell it. Oh, and maybe write some things down beforehand [laughs].