This year we will once again break ranks with the festival scene establishment, both through the films we plan to screen and the festival’s aesthetic.

Official Design

The art direction for Surfilmfestibal 13 is the work of a fascinating collective of Japanese surfers and artists, who count among their number several creative masterminds. Taishi Hirokawa, a dedicated surfer and a fantastic photographer, author of the poster image, whose work adorns the walls of MoMA. Taro Tamai, a visionary designer who has united the sensation of gliding through the water with that of gliding through the snow; plus various others who have helped break away from the dominant iconography of the surfing world, imparting a philosophical message of respect for the cycle of nature above and beyond our search for the next wave.

VÍDEO SURFILMFESTIBAL 13

A Look Ahead At The Programme

El Hijo del Pescador, a brilliant new film directed by Chris Malloy, will be presented by its protagonist, Ramón Navarro, in an open-air projection in our beloved borough of Sagüés on Saturday 27th June. It’s an honour to have with us a titan of Chilean surfing who has earned respect worldwide both for his paddling prowess in giant waves and for his valiant leadership of the #LobosPorSiempre campaign, the aim of which is the conservation of the magical Punta de Lobos. A project which is a real benchmark for the global surf community, and a key reason to have Chile as Guest Country in this edition.

This new title joins the previously announced La Primera Ola (Friday 26th June), the latest work Pedro Temboury — a thorough excavation of the archives to bring us the first ever documentary about the history of surfing in Spain.

Surf=Civilisation and Barbarism is our art exhibition at the Okendo Art House. With the help of photography, films, objects, the exhibition takes us to key surf spots around the world to learn about frictions, but mostly to understand how they can be solved. From the 60´s when surfing was a fringe sport, and beaches were heavens, to nowadays when surfing is a mass sport in many places, surfers have been, in some cases, actors of an aggressive development, and a close spectator in others. Now we start to be a respected voice fighting for the preservation of perfect waves that have a social and economical value in its environment. Bruno Garrudo (Portugal) is one of the confirmed artists, a very fine photographer and narrator of a surf world that does not longer exists.

We’re currently finalising several exciting proposals that we’ll tell you about later down the line. But we will give you the bare essentials: we’ve organized, together with the San Sebastián Technical School of Architecture, a meeting of analysis and reflection where surfing, architecture and street culture will all join hands; we invite you to a group surf session at playa de la Zurriola on Saturday 27th; and there will be all the usual parties lasting long into the night, in Dabadaba and the newly opened GU. We will also be welcoming the #IZAN EZBERDIN project by Kutxa Fundazioa, which will incorporate into our program various activities for the grommets between the ages of 12 and 17.

Sponsors and Collaborators

None of this would be possible without our small family of sponsors and collaborators. PATAGONIA, our key partner these last years, will continue to present the festival, sharing our vision of becoming an influencing surf culture meeting point. They will be joined by our new main sponsor ZUMOSOL and their juices made 100% out of fresh fruit. VANS, a key surf brand since 1966, has returned for our thirteenth year and we’ll be proudly sporting our Vans Old Skools throughout the festival. In addition, LATAM Airlines Group, leaders in South America, will be the official airline of the festival, bringing Chile to Donostia as the guest country of honour (and they don’t charge for boards!).

We would also like to thank all the festival’s usual collaborators returning for another year: Kutxa Fundazioa, Guipúzkoa Local Council, Surfing Euskadi, Surf City Donostia and the San Sebastián Aquarium. Thanks too to the various media outlets we’re associated with who help us spread the word: El Diario Vasco, Surf Europe, 3setenta, The Inertia, Magic Seaweed, Mar Gruesa and Staf Magazine.

And of course the artists, friends and all those who come to enjoy the festival even when it’s raining and who always leave us the best wave of the set… Our deepest thanks to everyone for supporting our ideas and our event. We hope to make it yet another historic edition of the festival!

More news to follow soon…