SURFER: TEEN CONFRONTS FEAR
dir. Douglas Burke, 2018
101 mins. California.
In English.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 3 – MIDNIGHT
SATURDAY, JANUARY 11 – 10 PM
MONDAY, JANUARY 20 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31 – 7:30 PM

A young surfer confronts fear. He should be out on the waves, hanging ten with the spray at his back, getting tan under the burning sun. Who – or what – can help this young man, numb and nearly mute, gripped by a fear of death, a fear to act?

SURFER, a film directed, acted, scored, and shot by Douglas Burke and Burke International Pictures, might have an answer to this question. At turns a Californian mystic experience, a Biblical parable, and very nearly an adventure thriller, it is at its heart a sort of SURF REFORMED, where men approach faith with the help of the supernatural. Burke approaches the camera like the rhythms of the ocean, nodding to both YouTube how-to videos and Béla Tarr in the same rolling beat. He is less interested in getting the camera tripod out of the shot than he is in the elusive and crucial process of finding one’s élan vital. The waves of destiny grow bigger with each return to the water, as images of surfers guide our hero to his ultimate challenge. Will the teen confront fear? We intuitively know the answer.

From SURFER: Teen Confronts Fear.