This year’s SLO Film Fest, opening April 24, once again presents the richest Surf/Skate program that I’ve ever seen at a mainstream film festival. In fact, the SLO Film Festival dedicates its Friday night and Saturday night showcase screenings to Surf/Skate events – that’s respect. Here are the highlights.
- The always popular Surf Night features the documentary The Blind Sea, about Australian surfer Matt Formston, who has become a 3-time World Champion with only 3% vision. If competitive surfing while blind weren’t enough, he takes on the monumental break at Nazaré. Expect the Fremont to be packed again with surfers enjoying drinks in the lobby and the Riff Tide surf band before the screening.
- This year, the festival’s Community of Skate will be hosted by the Bay Theater in Morro Bay. The feature film is the documentary N-Men: The Untold Story, which takes us to a freeway underpass in 1975 with the story of a seminal skateboarding crew; N-Men stars Tony Hawk and Tony Alva. There’s also the world premiere of a short film about skater Pat Ngoho, a post-screening panel and an exhibition of the custom skateboard designs and live-screen printing by the SLO High School Advanced Graphic Design class..
Check out the program and get your tickets at SLO Film Fest. Here’s the trailer for N-Men: The Untold Story.