Bringing Quiksilver Competition to Silver Screen

While Quiksilver will not stage its international surf competion in Long Beach again this year, the positive vibes from last summer’s event will live on at a theater near you.  

Surf Movie Night, a surfing film festival, kicks off at Long Beach Cinema at 8 p.m. on April 13, thanks to a collaboration between Long Beach Surfers Association (LBSA) and SMASH (Surf, Movies, Art, Shaping and History). The festival will include four documentaries by local film makers: “Lapsed Catholics: What The Surf Magazines Don’t Tell You,” “By The Way,” “Couch Tour” and a filme about Point Lookout pro surfer Balaram Stack.

Will Hallett, LBSA board member, encourages anyone and everyone, surfers and non-surfers alike, to attend what he bills as a special event in the city.

“The Long Beach Surfers Association is trying hard to bring events to the community and are looking for opportunities to get the community together and support local business at the same time,” Hallett said.

“Stacked,” directed by Patrick Cummings and E.J. McLeavey-Fisher, depicts what it was like for Stack, then 19, to go up against all odds and compete with some of the world’s best surfers, including then 10-time champion Kelly Slater, at the Quicksilver Pro New York held at National Boulevard beach last September. Owen Wright of Austrailia won the competition.

“It is a great short film that documents Stack’s involvement in Quicksilver Pro as a wild card,” Hallett said. “ It shows what it means to bring a surf event of that magnitude to New York.”

While Hayley Gordon’s “By The Way” is a short documenting on a few of surfing's female standouts, including Sara Taylor and Jen Smith, “Lapsed Catholics” is Brooklyn surfer Toddy Stewart’s first-person account of being a surfer. “Couch Tour,” the festival’s feature film, has a 9/11-related theme and was directed in part by Mike Nelson and Dave Juan, owners of UnsOund surf shop in Long Beach.

Tickets for Surf Movie Night are $10 for LBSA members and $20 for non-members with an optional LBSA lifetime membership. All tickets include popcorn and a drink, a movie night standard. 

“It’s an optional life time membership, and if they choose not to, the extra $10 goes to the charitable organization [LBSA],” Hallet said.

He explained that LBSA helps provide a unified voice for the surf community, sustaining open communication with the city about safety and environmental concerns surrounding the sport.

The movie night is open to everyone and parents are encouraged to bring their children, offering free admission for anyone under twelve.

“Surfing in our area has really turned into a family event,” Hallett said. “Come out, bring the kids and we can stack the house.”