Bumper Event for 2011

The 2011 edition of the festival, presented by Pick 'n Pay, mixes the world’s most exciting surf films with a smattering of extreme adventure and environmental content, while Zapiro is part of a unique group of South Africa’s top artists and photographers who have decorated 11 'egg' surfboards for a unique art exhibition that culminates in an auction for the NSRI, Shark Spotters and AIDS awareness organisation Isiqalo Foundation.

Children from Masiphumelele township, with Claire Homewood and Sergio Rinquist from The One Love Studio, are involved in the art board project, with their board providing funds for Isiqalo. Also on board are Richard Scott, Guy Tillim, Brett Murray, ND Mazin, Pete Eastman, Osnat de Villiers, Colwyn Thomas, Peter van Straaten, Kim Longhurst and Scott Robertson.

After the auction, chaired by funnyman Mark Sampson, at the trendy Cape Town eatery Field Office on Thursday 8 December, the film component of the festival kicks in. Exclusive Clifton 4th Beach plays host to an outdoor screening of two short surf films Thirty Thousand and Leave a Message (total one hour) for a memorable evening under the stars. A handcrafted wooden WaWa surfboard will be given away, as well as Rip Curl gear and other cool stuff (to be announced).

Festival director Steve "Spike" Pike said: "Our sturdy box trussing means the wind has to be pretty much galeforce around the peninsula to scupper the screening). Prizes will be given away, and all beachgoers get R20 off entrance to Trinity after the film (world famous DJ Sebestien Leger performs in this multi-function arena).

After Clifton, catch films at famous surfers' pub the Brass Bell, Kalk Bay, 11-14 December and Labia Cinema, 15-19 December.

“We have a record 23 films!” said an exasparated Spike "and arguably the most diverse line up of films ever seen at the festival, from big wave Bra Boys, MMA fighting, big waves, snowboarding, little waves, huge moves, wakeboarding, Max Max surfing craziness, MTB madness, wingsuit mullets doing this crazy thing called Free BASE. Wavescape also screens a record number of South African-made projects, including The Africa Project, Afrika, Tropical Roast, Contrast, Hooked, Leaping Louse 2011, Into the Light and Stone Rolling.”

"We present the world premiere of Surfing and Sharks: The Movie. The film was co-produced by Wavescape, with our own Chris Mason playing a pivotal role in getting the project off the ground, and stars SA’s free-surf star Andrew “Roosta” Lange as well as Avuyile Ndamase, Lungani Memani and some huge waves on the Kwa-Zulu Natal South Coast."

Also in the line up is the much anticipated The Africa Project, a much talked about offering from talented SA cinematographer Jason Hearn, featuring the likes of Jordy Smith and co and uncovering hidden surf breaks along the African coastline.

The African theme continues with the South African premiere of Thirty Thousand, about an epic journey by two Aussie twins who travel the entire west coast of Africa on a mammoth trek to surf unexplored waves in Morocco, Senegal, Liberia, Angola, Namibia and South Africa. This won best music soundtrack at the New York Surf Film Festival.

We also premiere the bodyboarding film Contrast by a Cape Town crew starring our very own Mark McCarthy, Andre Botha, and Jared Housten.

"We summarise 2011 around the SA coast with a Best Of compilation by Cape Town filmmaker Alan Robb called Leaping Louse 2011."

Steel yourself for Fighting Fear, a feature length docu-drama presented by O'Neill starring Bra Boys gangsters Mark Mathews (big wave surfer) and Richie Vaculik (MMA fighter) in a bone crunching look into their tumultuous lives living on the edge and nearly falling off. Night surfing huge waves and extreme fighting make this the adrenaline charger of the festival.

Red Bull’s sensational Art of Flight will also be shown. A snowboarding adventure documentary that has blown international audiences away with its combination of intense vertical snowboarding and revolutionary Ultra HD cinematography.

Add to this list the epic all women surf film Leave a Message, the cool doccie on bodysurfing called Come Hell or High Water, a gripping docu-drama about surfers in Papua New Guinea called Splinters (parental guidance please), Rip Curl's Indo extravaganza Float, and Globe's Mad Max-style movie Year Zero (an immersive sensory overload featuring the future of surfing courtesy Nate Tyler, Yaden Nicol, Taj Burrow and more).

We screen a soulful co-production between the Goodman Gallery's Thomas Mulcaire and Brazilian Ricardo de Oliveira in a film called Afrika (shot during the FIFA Soccer World Cup last year in Mozambique and South Africa), some breathtaking MTB madness in Life Cycles as well as a host of cool shorts from top film students, which include the famous Jack McCoy music video Blue Sway that he made with Paul McCartney that shows off his amazing underwater submarine cam that can track the tube from under the breaking wave, and a whacky fiction story about Chad Stone, cool Durban surfer dude who rides the wave of stardom with trusty board caddie Billy Champion.

Phew. What an eyeful.   ;-)

Summary of stuff this year

• Wavescape partners with community station Cape Town TV for outreach of our films
• Freedom of Information is a loose theme at the art auction this year
• Zapiro's Zuma satire and court case evolves with his board for our art auction
• Top selling board artist from 2010 Osnat de Villiers produces another stellar work from 2011 days before she launches her exhibition
• Also on board are acclaimed artists Guy Tillim, ND Mazin, Brett Murray, Colwyn Thomas, Peter Eastman, Peter van Straaten, Kim Longhurst and Scott Robertson (Sick work ... wow)
• The One Love Studios and Masiphumelele township kids are creating a board
• Working with Sustainable Seas Trust (www.sst.org.za) and Skeleton Sea http://www.skeletonsea.com/) to collaborate on 3 December day with a beach cleanup, surfer's ear clinic with Dr John, and a platform for participants to make an ocean Pledge to conserve the sea
• International premiere of Surfers and Sharks movie, which Wavescape co-produced
• International premiere of SA bodyboarding film Contrast
• SA premiere of Australian film Thirty Thousand
• International premiere of SA film Leaping Louse 2011
• SA premiere of Rip Curl film Float
• SA premiere of Keith Malloy's film Come Hell or High Water
• SA premiere of Brazilian and South African co-production Afrika
• Screening Ultra HD snowboarding film Art of Flight
• Screening a record 9 short films
• Screening much anticipated homegrown movie The Africa Project, Jason Hearn
• Screening a film in Masiphumelele with the Save our Seas Foundation
• Giving away WaWa wooden surfboard at Clifton
• Screening the best three short films entered in the GoPro Hero Short Film Contest on Wavescape
• Going BOS with thousands of cans of BOS iced tea to be given away
• We throw into the surfing mix an entertaining variety of adventure sports, including MMA, snowboarding, MTB, wakeboarding, BASE jumping, body surfing and bodyboarding
• Night surfing meets MMA in the gritty O'Neill docu-drama Fighting Fear

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