This All-Girls Surf Film Is Undeniably Brilliant

I hovered over the beanie of a frantically working Ashton Goggans last week. He was scavenging the internet for old clips of Coco Ho (little project in the works) while simultaneously lecturing me on female surf history.

“See this film,” he said as he played the intro to what looked like an early two-thousands MTV reality show, “some consider this to be one of the best female surf movies of all time.”

I doubted his claim, but after doing a little surveying of older staff, he was right. Despite living in a world with plenty of gifted female surfers and exceptional filmmakers, there’s a noticeable lack of proper all-girl surf movies. By proper, I mean a video that doesn’t feature uncomfortable close-ups and isn’t produced with third quarter bikini sales in mind. A proper film would be one that gives female surfers the lead roles and not a three-wave feature before the credits fall onto the screen.

With the magical eyes of Dan Scott parked behind the lens, Stephanie Gilmore, Nikki Van Dijk, Tyler Wright, Macy Callaghan, and Dimity Stoyle have produced “Surfing,” a magnificent all-girls surf film this world desperately needed.

It’s a lively piece, carefully orchestrated with happy middle fingers, sporadic arm-waving, and Missy Elliot’s classic track “Work It.” As for the Surfing, you read that list of names, right? There are no weak links in that chain. That’s an unbreakable connection of drive and maxed-out tube time.

The ladies claim this is “not serious just for fun,” but I disagree. This film is serious in the sense that the younger generations of female surfers will have a quality surf flick they can worship for years to come. So while some of us found digital nirvana while watching Modern Collective on repeat for the last ten years, our female counterparts will be clicking play on “Surfing.”

Watch the most entertaining surf film I’ve seen in weeks here.