This is a quickie film review we recently put together for the Surfrider Vancouver Blog. Original post available here.

Know what you love, and protect what you love. 

For those who missed, this was the takeaway from the screening of Jason Baffa’s One Beach, at last month’s Projecting Change Film Festival. Surfrider Vancouver was there with an info-table outside, and chapter Vice Chair Liz Macdonald weighed in during the post-film panel discussion, which also included Edward Gregr, Marine Ecologist, and Jill Dwyer, Manager of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.

Produced with the support of longtime Surfrider amigos Barefoot Wines, One Beach is a splashy little environmental flick about beach lovers and loving beaches. The film speaks earnestly to the ever-growing planetary mess of waste and plastic debris choking our waterways and coastlines. But true to Surfrider ethos, instead of looking down, the film charges this weighty subject with relentless optimism.

One Beach is all about transformation and visible solutions. It’s 24 minutes of positive action-taking that will absolutely motivate you to get outside and love your beach.

With a stirring soundtrack and stunning cinematography, Jason Baffa directs an emotional storytelling tour, sharing the stories of some good folks out there who are raising awareness about disposal lifestyles and inspiring others to engage.

We visit artists Richard and Judith Selby Lang, who scavenge the California coast collecting debris and junk to use in their studio where they elevate the found material into fine art. Florida fashion designer Kim De Vries turns her creative attentions to jewelry making, employing the worn plastic pieces she recovers from local beaches. And there’s Tim Silverman, who builds sustainable surfboards and shows us how he’s integrating beach scraps into his designs.

Also great clips of Kevin Cunningham, of Australia’s Take3 Clean Beach Initiative, who tells of his travels to the Pacific gyres and how vital it is that we take ownership of our beaches and waters.

There’s a host of fabulous ideas coming out of these interviews.

Big thinker, and Surfrider Foundation CEO, Jim Moriarty features prominently in the film. Jim shares some spirited philosophy on the Surfrider mission, and praises the momentum of participatory efforts around the globe. Surfriders in Brazil, transform their beach cleanups into outright festive affairs, complete with live bands. Jim talks about the bystanders not being able to resist

Jim breaks things down into a matter of love:

“If I love this, I should care for it. That’s the essence of Surfrider; protection and  enjoyment of what we love: the coast.” 

Strong on the inspirational pep talk, and perhaps a wave away from your typical environmental doc, the essence of One Beach is empowerment and passion.

It’s colourful and poetic, and the film delivers an utterly simple message: we’re all implicated, and we all have the power to do something.

“How are you going to take action? We know action happens when you’re in love. It’s just the truth of the world. You don’t do things out of fear. The long term action comes when you’re in love.”

You can watch One Beach online, or through the website at www.onebeachthefilm.com.

The Surfrider Foundation is a global environmental non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches through a powerful activist network.