Yallingup Surfilm Festival 2012: A Huge Wave

In Western Australia, three hours south of Perth in the small coastal township of Yallingup, a festival has wrapped up with great success and celebration. The 2012 Yallingup Surfilm festival, designed for surfheads – those who live for riding waves – included discussion forums, art exhibitions, film screenings, live music and charity events over three jam-packed days with more than 2,500 visitors streaming in.

The Yallingup Surfilm festival is a non-profit organisation set up in 2010 in one of the most isolated regions in Australia. The purpose of the festival is to attract ecological awareness for oceans and beaches and the societies that are part of the coastal line, as well as encouraging creative contributions from local and international lovers of the sea to inspire generations of new and old.

The three-day festival finished with a Finnish film named Finnsurf by director Aleksi Raik. Finnsurf, garnering Best Feature, is a tale of surfing made unusual by the setting – set in Finland, making it the world’s first Finnish film about surfing. More of a documentary than a work of fiction, the film follows five Finnish surfers finding brotherhood and harmony in the subzero tides of the beaches in the Scandinavian country of the north. Other films snapped up awards, including best short film for The Surfer by Dominic Coleman, a hilarious cringe-worthy comedy made in England.

In the weeks leading up to the festival, an exhibition of painted surfboards by Australian and local artists toured several galleries of Perth and Western Australia before settling in at the festival, to be auctioned off for charity. Surfaid was the charity of choice, a major international non-profit humanitarian charity developed to give support to isolated regions affected by ocean waters, including tsunami recovery programs. A magnificent $9,000 was raised on the final night of the festival from the proceeds of the auction.

The waves were great during the festival, with a Tarp Surfing Demonstration and the appearance of Taj Burrow, a local surf hero and world-recognised professional surfer for the Surf Culture Forum. Also on the last day of the festival was another charity event for Disabled Surfers South West - a program that introduces disabled people to the joys of surfing in the open ocean - the event being a fancy dress affair for the local Indian Ocean Longboard Club members. The Fancy Dress Surfing Competition was literally held on the waves, with carefully selected outfits donned to match the surfboards in which the participants rode upon much to the delight of the audience.

After the plethora of successful events in Yallingup, Festival Director Jesca Maas, graduating from Deakin University and veteran of festivals such as CinefestOz and Ironman, is already looking forward to next year’s Yallingup Surfilm Festival 2013; “The festival again brought together some of the world’s most passionate and talented surf film makers, environmental activists, surfers, and artists to mix and mingle with the public and have the opportunity to celebrate the culture of surfing.“

“This year’s films had a focus on environmental awareness and preservation, travel, adventure, escapism and the spirit shared by surfers and ocean-lovers from around the globe. We’re already talking to film directors about 2013 and it is looking very exciting!”