The Way – Surf Documentary has finally hit the shores of New Zealand and starts screening around the country on Friday. The doco is based around a washed up surfboard belonging to Peter Way and the journey it’s founders make to trace its roots. The doco features a number of top New Zealand surfers and identities as they discuss their careers and surfing in general.
You can purchase tickets to The Way screenings here.
Check below for screening times and a quick behind the scenes interview with producer Luke Cameron.
Piha 8/24: Venue: Piha Bowls Club / 7pm Movie / 8:30 Q & A / 8:45pm Music by: The Bollands
Raglan 8/26: Venue: TBD 7pm Movie / 8:30 Q & A / 8:45pm Music by: The Bollands
New Plymouth 8/28: Venue: New Plymouth Surf Club / 7pm Movie / 8:30 Q & A / 8:45pm Music by: The Bollands
Whangamata 8/30: Venue: Whangamata Surf Club / 7pm Movie / 8:30 Q & A / 8:45pm Music by: The Bollands
Mount Maunganui: Venue: Astrolab 6:00pm Music by: The Bollands / 7pm Movie / 8:30 Q & A /
Gisborne 9/1: Venue: The dome Cinema & Bar 7pm Movie. 8:30 Q & A / 9pm Music by: Sit Down In Front
Nelson 9/06
Dunedin 9/14
Karitane 9/22
SNZ: Give a brief background on the movie?
LC: The whole idea started when my friend and now co-producer Ben Winmill came across an old Peter Way surfboard. He started looking into it and realized it was an original Peter Way shape and the whole process started from there. Get the board back to the man who shaped it, make a surf trip out of it and connect with current pros and see how they’ve all made surfing their lives.
SNZ: How did you become involved in the production?
LC: Ben rang me up once he had this hairbrained idea of getting the board back to Peter- even though he had no idea where he was of if he was still alive. He brought me on to direct and produce the film. Together we came up with the concept of how to go from A to Z and link all the parts in between.
SNZ: How did the documentary evolve as time went on?
LC: As we started digging into Peter’s past we started learning more and more about surfing back in the 60’s and 70’s and the evolution of competitive surfing in New Zealand. We wanted to link current pros to the film and see how they have benefited from the path that Peter’s generation paved.
SNZ: What have been the highlights of the venture for you?
LC: The highlights were for sure meeting Peter and hearing first hand what it was like to grow up in the 60’s and be one of the first surfers at a lot of the now well-known breaks in New Zealand. Then actually getting to surf a lot of those iconic breaks and surf with current pros like Billy, Paige and Maz was incredible.
SNZ: What have been the challenges?
LC: The challenges were all the parts that people don’t see- the editing, tracing down old footage, the phone calls- I guess all the paper parts of the film. The behind the scenes stuff that makes it all tick was the hardest. Making a feature-length documentary across 4 years is no easy feat!
SNZ: The New Zealand premiers are coming, what are you looking forward to the most?
LC: Yeah we’re really stoked to be premiering the film in most of the places we shot it. To be honest I’m looking forward to each and every one of them. I hope we get some waves in Whangamata as I didn’t get to surf there while filming!
SNZ: What else do you want to tell everyone out there?
LC: I’d like to thank each and every person who came out of the woodwork to tell a story or help in some way shape or form to get the film completed. It’s such a long and arduous journey to get something like this done and we couldn’t have done it without the help from everyone who assisted. Also a huge thank to Gull Petrol for helping us fuel our journey- we’ve actually got some great prizes from them to give away at each screening as well as Sticky Johnson wax and Piha Beer! Yewwwwwwww
