LBB Film Club: A New Wave

Sandra> I was very lucky that I got to meet Mikey in Cape Town when I was there on a shoot. I was able to connect with one of the guys who shoots a lot of his underwater photography, Paul Daniel, and through him I met Mikey’s team and then Mikey. I went into the first meeting thinking he was an incredible surfer with a great style and already making a legacy. I wasn’t sure what we could do together but was curious to get to know him better. This is what happens sometimes with documentary filmmaking, the story has to spring from the character. This is such an example of that, going in and thinking, “he’s an amazing athlete and there could be a film here” and then leaving the first meeting realising it’s actually going to be a story about a father and son. I could see so clearly from our first conversation how Mikey’s father impacts his life and his decisions. Their relationship also reminded me of my relationship with my own dad. So I left that meeting feeling really excited about spending more time with both Mikey and his father Isaac and uncovering more of that story. I was with my producer Sara Samsoe from Newland and cinematographer Joao de Botelho and talking about how this could be really special. So that’s how this all got started.

Sandra> I think that collaboration happens at the pace of trust. You don’t have the ability to tell someone’s story if they don’t feel safe with you. That’s so important, always. After I met Mikey, we went to his house and I met his father, Isaac, and his mother, Marsha, and they were so welcoming and sweet. We spent the afternoon together and talked about family stories. They were showing me old photos and the garage with Mikey’s old trophies and surfboards. When you’re making a film with someone it is an energetic exchange of sorts, and I think the energy we walked in with, and the energy they’ve created in their own space, was a merging of the two where Mikey and Isaac felt safe and understood. 

Before bringing in the camera, we talked a lot about the kind of film they wanted to make and the kind of film they didn’t want to make. So from the get go there was a lot of dialogue and that’s where trust begins. On my first trip to Cape Town we did a short filming stint of about four days, then about four to five months later I came back for a second shoot, and throughout that whole time we were in touch and building our relationship. I was digitising their old family videos and we were still talking and getting to know each other more deeply. So by the time I came back for the second trip there were more things I knew to ask about and it was a richer experience.

Sandra> With documentary, I think you really find the story as you go. But what was important to me holistically is that it felt like an intimate story between father and son and the generational shifts we see through their relationship to surfing. When I met Isaac he shared how he didn’t have a father figure growing up and how he wasn’t allowed on many beaches throughout apartheid, and he wanted his son to have different experiences. They didn’t want to lead with that, but we knew that Isaac breaking the pattern and being present in his son’s life needed to shine through. Any parent can watch this film I think and feel warm inside from watching Isaac in awe of his son, seeing him excel and inspire people around him. It’s a beautiful and powerful thing. Their dynamic, their bond, their experiences, were always at the core, and it was just a matter of figuring out which scenes to film and what archival material we’d have to get to tell that story most impactfully.

Sandra> We definitely were inspired by Isaac’s own photography. He had these beautiful photographs of Marsha when they just met and photographs of him skating and these self portraits where he was dressed in cool clothes. There was such a timeless aesthetic to those photographs that was inspiring. We were also inspired by how Mikey likes to portray himself, which is often through black and white photography. And just observing how they present themselves, and what they like. Mikey loves jazz so we were looking at videos of old jazz performances and pulling our own black and white photographs that we liked. 

We wanted to shoot on film, but the complications around shooting on film with surfing were quite limiting, so we went with digital. We wanted to harness that same feeling in the footage and material, so we went with the 4:3 aspect ratio and graded it to have a somewhat filmic quality. Shooting in 4:3 is more of a portrait aspect ratio, you’re really making it about the person much more than their environment. In surfing videos you often see these big epic wide shots so that you can see the wave, but for us with this it was much more about framing Mikey and capturing that timelessness of how he surfs. 

Sandra> We were a small super dedicated team: me, my cinematographer Joao, producer Sara, and our amazing service company in Cape Town, Orange Films. I really trust Joao, we’ve worked together before and we work really well together. We’d show up at a location and talk through which shots and angles convey the right feeling; it was more artful rather than vérité where you’re just following someone around with the camera. It was about encapsulating this specific feeling. It was amazing to get to be creative in that way, and to have Mikey and Isaac trust us and lean in to working in that way. Some of the most striking shots in the film ended up being captured in the pool at Mikey’s house. 

Also, Mikey is so known in the community that everyone was so happy to help out. Locations like the jazz club were owned by his friends, and they were all very open and welcoming in terms of us filming there. 

We had a shoot day on the water while I was there, but the ocean was completely flat, so most of the epic surf footage ended up being shot by Paul Daniel in between my two trips to Cape Town. 

Sandra> We got a lot of great archival footage, including Mikey surfing when he was younger. I thought it was important to include that to convey Mikey’s journey, starting young and maybe unsure of what his style was going to be, to today where he’s one of the most widely respected free surfers ever. That’s such an incredible evolution. I also wanted to match the interviews to that footage, so if he’s describing being young and awkward and his arms and legs going everywhere, we can see that. And it’s so refreshing to hear those things from a surfer. People sometimes think that incredible athletes were just always like that, but it’s important to show the journey.

In terms of Isaac and Marsha’s wedding footage, I just melted when I saw it. Isaac is someone who just radiates love and radiates commitment, and I thought it was important to include that footage because it tells you so much about who he is, and what kind of role models Mikey grew up with. And the fact that we were able to include Mikey and his wife, Zelti’s wedding footage as well created a beautiful full-circle moment in the film. And now Mikey has his own son who’s growing up. It feels like the life that Isaac envisioned for his son, it’s now unfolding in full force.

Sandra> We actually shot it in black and white. Even though we shot it digitally and could’ve decided in the grade, we chose to shoot it in black and white because that was always the intention. Every frame was thought of with that in mind. With black and white you can be more extreme with the contrast, so our lighting and framing choices were designed to complement that world. 

Sandra> Mikey shared some playlists with me and we were also listening to jazz records and stuff together in person, and I took a lot of that and tried to incorporate as much as I could into the edit. I ended up licensing some key tracks for the film because I felt that the authenticity and Mikey’s love of music was important to this story. It’s evident how important music is to Mikey, so we wanted to have actual songs in there from the genres and era that he likes.

I also worked with two composers who were amazing, Andreas Pfannenstill and Joe Wilkinson, and musical artist Shungudzo who laid vocals. Having an actual voice really elevated the score overall, it brings more humanity to those cues. That was a creative choice that felt very suited to the film, like capturing the calling of the ocean in a soulful way.

Sandra> The lesson I learned is that it’s really important with any project to spend the time on it that it needs and deserves. Throughout this process there were many moments where I could have finished it and released it, but it was really important to me to keep fine tuning the things that needed fine tuning, and releasing it in a way that did the characters justice rather than taking the quickest route. The film went on the festival circuit which was great, and after that I really wanted to release it in a way where it would reach a wide audience. When The New York Times was interested in having it be on Op-Docs, and with the opportunity for Mikey to write an Op-Ed, that’s the kind of scale that I was hoping to achieve. And I think getting selected for that came down to spending the time on the film that it deserved to get it right. I’m really proud that we were able to release it in the way that we did. And I’m proud to tell a father/son story that was so different from my own and yet resonated. As a filmmaker I want to make sure that I’m really capturing the spirit of Mikey and Isaac and that the film is an extension of them. I’m proud that people all over the world can watch this and see this as a timeless story. I think this little film will stand the test of time.

Sandra> I think that certainly matters in ways that are both tangible and not. I love the ocean and I feel the most connected to myself when I’m at the beach or in the water, so I share that with Mikey and Isaac. I feel that same calling to be in the water. So to get to make a film where I get to be in the water with such a fantastic surfer, it’s so many things that I enjoy coming together. And then the understanding that I have of manoeuvres and conditions and style of breaks, it all just means that I can engage in those conversations with them in a deeper way. When it’s something you live and breathe yourself, it feels like a much more organic and natural filming process. And Mikey and Isaac can feel that too.