Lockdown: A Film Festival In Your Front Room

04 . 05 . 20

If you’re missing the sea and surfing, then Lockdown Surf Film Festival might be just the tonic to help you stay connected to surf culture and sustain the stoke through these times of severe social distancing.

“These are unprecedented times. Self-isolation. Surf bans. Lockdowns. We wanted to pull together to support our surf & creative communities across the globe, to keep the stoke fires burning. So, along with motley crew from all corners of the surfing world, we’re stoked to present Lockdown Surf x Film Festival.”

– Lockdown Surf Film Festival Director Demi Taylor

Launched in the first week of the UK’s lockdown, the weekly online celebration of the best in surf cinema is the result of the creativity and quick reactions of London Surf Film Festival directors Demi Taylor and Chris Nelson. From their home above Porthtowan (a stone’s thrown from the workshop, on the other side of the valley) Demi and Chris have put their “stay at home” time and extensive address book of surf creatives to good use for the benefit of surfers around the world.

Lockdown Surf x Film Festival has community at its core. Demi and Chris have been working with some of the finest filmmakers of our times to present a hand picked line up of the very best surf movies, in a series of remote, event screenings. It’s a rolling, evolving programme and each film is available free, online for 24hrs and accompanied by talks, interviews and insights from the surfers and filmmakers who have generously shared their creative projects hosted by a raft of some of surfing’s finest cultural commentators and podcasters.

“We wanted to create a space and community to help everyone get through what might be a long period of life on hold. The filmmakers have been super kind to offer their movies to help keep the stoke fires burning at a time when getting in the ocean is out of reach for the vast majority of us.”

– Lockdown Surf Film Festival Director Chris Nelson

They’ve already screened some amazing surf films every Friday night at 7pm (each film is available to stream, for free, for 24 hours), including The Seawolf, Dirty Old Wedge, La Oa Sin Fronteras, Here & Now and Sorria. Over the coming weeks, they’ve lined up Sight Sound (pictured above), Nervous Laughter, Zone Frequency, and The Outrider (pictured below), and will keep working to add a movie to their bill every week whilst lockdown lasts.

It’s a rolling festival for the times we’re living in so the programme will be rolling with it. Head to LOCKDOWNSURFFILMFESTIVAL.COM for more info and screenings.

On Instagram they’re going out through @londonsurffilmfest

On Facebook they’re going out through @londonsurffilmfestival