Filmmaker Britton Caillouette, has produced Sliding Liberia, an “unorthodox surf safari” film which follows Stanford University political science PhD Nicolai Lidow and three friends on a surf trip to Liberia according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Shot on vintage 16mm film and digital video, Caillouette’s film captures the surreal dysfunction that sits at the heart of Liberia, a country crippled by war and founded on a lie. “Our national motto is ‘The love of liberty brought us here’,” one local notes, speaking of Liberia’s founding in 1822 by freed American slaves. “But me personally, it does not sound good. There were people on the land, so what about them?” . . . Unlike most surf films, Sliding Liberia makes no effort to keep its discovery secret. “Initially I was nervous about showing everybody where the waves were,” Lidow says. “Then I realised how selfish that was. The locals want tourists to come; they realise it might be good news for the local economy. So now we’re hoping that everyone goes! In a place like that, surfing really can change people’s lives.”
The film also reportedly captures Liberia’s “first surfer” a boy named Alfred (pictured right). For more info on the film visit the website at Sliding Liberia.
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
