17-year old Jesse lives in the shadow of his older brother Victor's failure to become surfing's Next Big Thing. Even when he's in his natural habitat of magnificent surf breaks, his blue-collar future is brought home by the coal barges that constantly line his horizon. Jesse has the natural skills to surf his way out of this reality and onto the international circuit but can he overcome his equally natural ability to sabotage himself? A momentous weekend away with his mates that includes first love and tragedy leads him to discover what's really important, and also to the performance of a lifetime.
Cinematography
Those coal barges haunting every beautiful surf shot
Acting
Xavier Samuel's Fergus will wreck you quietly
Direction
Castle makes Newcastle feel inescapable and magnetic
Director
Dan Castle
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
One of the few Australian surf films to center queer identity without making it the entire plot—radical for 2008.
The coal barge visual motif was director Dan Castle's idea: 'I wanted the beauty and the poison in the same frame.'
AU
US
