SB-issue59_digital

Documentary by Matty Hannon
While he set out to merely document the journey,
Matty ended up telling a deeper story about
humanity and our connection to nature – a premise
that came about by surprise after he started talking
to the people of the land, living an adventure on a
daily basis, and even falling in love along the way.
As you probably already know, we are avid fans
of unhinged surfing trips, so we were pretty quick
to grab tickets to one of the first screenings of the
film’s national Q&A tour.
Here, Matty informed us that the unflinching themes
of the doco came later in the editing process, and
that it took a long time before they were able to
distil them.
“It’s hard, because when you’re out in the middle
of nowhere on the back of a horse experiencing an
incredibly animate moment with a girl you love, you
don’t really need words to communicate that shared
feeling – you’re intuitively connected to each other
and the world around you.
“Especially if you’ve been doing that for months on
end – you’re immersed and leaning into a different
way of life. But to communicate that feeling through
a digital medium on screen to an audience in a dark
and insulated cinema is tricky.
“Fast-paced, modern lifestyles have removed a
lot of the language necessary for exploring our
connection to nature, or the universe... or whatever
you want to call her.
“That’s where long adventures into the wild can
help. The isolation is grounding, the people you
meet turn your world upside down, and a lot of the
bullsh*t, if you let it, can fall away.”
#59 // smorgasboarder //
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