Unlocked: ‘Toasted,’ By Caity Simmers

Fact: There aren’t enough surf films starring females. Nor are there enough surf films directed, edited, and/or produced by women. 

After her Australia rendezvous, Caity Simmers walked into the Stab office with a clear goal. She wanted to make a surf film she actually liked — one that would inspire people to surf. Especially girls.

At first, the idea lived on the bullet points of a Canva presentation, with each location pinned to a slide. After a trip to the superb point breaks of Mexico, her vision gained traction. Indonesia, Portugal, and France came next. And, by the grace of the White Monkey and a few ride-or-die filmers, the footage continued to pile up.

On November 4, Caity (freshly back from France) cruised by the office to drop off her hard drive. Before handing the footage to our ‘editor,’ she decided to mark the A & B clips. That endeavor turned into a late Friday night, where we (hi, I’m Coral) sorted all the footage. She decided she wasn’t done yet.

The next Monday, Caity surprised us with a fully self-edited Mexico section. Her work in Premiere is a lot like her approach to riding a wave — whimsical, random, and full of accidental perfection. Of course, we wanted more. 

Caity agreed to edit ‘Toasted’ from start to finish, and it was all gas. She took a seat in the editor’s dungeon and spent weeks working on the project. Two months at Stab HQ, 20 vanilla flats, a website, a Premiere tutorial, a few focus groups, a handful of interpretive dance breaks, a bit of doodling, too much f* missing media (computer nerds know what we’re talking about), a hit of color correction, some graphic treatments, and one music licensor later, she had herself a surf film. 

‘Toasted’ is an ode to a classic surf film, envisioned by a 17-year-old female. Edited and directed by Caitlin Simmers, the film features Gen Z lady powers Sierra Kerr, Bella Kenworthy, and Molly Picklum, as well as Mikey February, Tanner Gudaskas, Tex Mitchell, and Ian Crane.  

Watch ‘Toasted’ to immerse yourself in Caitlin Simmers’ creative genius.

Is this the greatest women’s surf film of all time? We think so, but we’re clearly biased. Share your thoughts below.