Bravery and bravado, turf wars and massive wipeouts dominate Ocean Night Thursday, May 5 when Humboldt Surfrider, Ocean Conservancy and Humboldt Baykeeper present the epic surf film Bustin' Down the Door at Arcata Theatre Lounge.
This 2008 documentary chronicles the rise of professional surfing in the early 1970s as it follows a group young surfers from Australia and South Africa including Shaun Tomson, Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew, Ian Cairns, Mark Richards, Michael Tomson and Peter Townend. The crew relocates to Hawaii and clashes with the locals, some of whom find the newcomers' brashness to be insulting to Hawaiian culture. Eventually the conflict culminates in death threats against the subjects of the film.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NOfm4WEMCs]
Also playing, Weather the Storm: the fight to stay local, a documentary set in France that resonates with California's North Coast. In today's global economy, the world's ocean resources are being hit hard. Enormous industrial floating factories follow the fish wherever they are abundant, and move on when they have plundered the fish stocks. In the process, they squeeze the life out of small and local fishing communities. The fishing communities on France's Western coast are determined to fight back. These small town fishermen have launched a sophisticated and multi-faceted strategy to stay small and successful in the face of global competition. Although the battle to save the oceans is often publicly waged between environmentalists and corporations, this film gives voice to an important group who just may have the solutions we need: the small-scale artisanal fishers.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Films start at 7 p.m. Ocean Night is all ages with a $3 donation requested and a raffle held between movies.
