8th Annual Beach Shorts Festival
The 8th Annual Beach Shorts Festival packed the Hermosa Beach Playhouse Saturday night for an event that allows amateur filmmakers to show six to eight minute “shorts” documenting nearly every aspect of the local surf scene.
“The audience was in tune with the films and the experience of the show,” said event creator and director Barry Hatchett. “The filmmakers raise the bar each year.”
Some of the highlights included three submissions from prolific South Bay filmmaker “MartyCam.” His three submissions included a clip of local surf legend Mike Purpus and friends, a “Surf Santa” bio, and footage of Redondo Beach’s King Harbor being demolished by giant surf in 1988 followed by the Redondo Beach Pier burning down.
“When the audience is entertained, excited, and inspired each person takes away something different,” Hatchett said.
The submissions were diverse for an event attracting almost every facet of surfing, from Hunter Jones’ “Showers Crew 2014” showcasing the hottest aerial antics of young shortboarders, to Thomas Kampas’ footage of giant waves at local surf spot Hammerland in “Jetty” to Grant Kirkpatrick’s “Onit Ability Board”, a demonstration of a paddleboard system for paraplegics.
“One person might be excited to make a short film for next year,” he said. “Another might be inspired to get involved with a service group like the Onit Ability Board.”
Besides the action on the screen, in the lobby, local surfboard maker Adam Davenport had a beautiful selection of his boards on display while Fish At Sea had killer threads to check out. Other spaces were occupied by an array of artists and photographers.
“I get excited about being able to give exposure to groups like the South Bay Boardriders and to local artists like Randy Ruby, Candace Stalder, and Heather Konkoli,” Hatchett said.
Beach Shorts is noted for is it’s free giveaways and raffle. Merchandise from Fish At Sea, Surftech, ET Surf, and others was tossed to the hands of stoked attendees. The cherry on the sundae is the yearly raffle of beautiful Davenport Surfboard. Jumping out of his chair, Vince Ray, the “Surfing Santa,” walked home with a turquoise tinted Davenport noserider underneath his arm.
“It is a win-win for both the artists, groups and Beach Shorts Film Fest,” Hatchett said. “At the end of the night I was exhausted and excited for next year. You couldn’t wipe the smile of my face.”