Surf film delivers more than killer waves
By Rebecca Villaneda, Peninsula News
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 6:56 PM PDT
“Walking on Water,” a surf flick that follows two adolescents and professional surfer Bryan Jennings to six countries exploring life, faith and culture, will be screened Friday at Rolling Hills Covenant Church in Rolling Hills Estates.
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| From left to right are Tyler Hallen, Bryan Jennings and Luke Davis, the stars of “Walking on Water,” a surf film that documents a trip the three took to six countries exploring their faith and learning about life lessons. The film will be screened at Rolling Hills Covenant Church in Rolling Hills Estates on Friday at 7 and 9 p.m. |
Filmed in a time span of about 1 1/2 years, the documentary visits spots such as South Africa and Peru, which serve as a perfect backdrop for the life lessons these teens learn through an older generation of surfers.
“There’s a real need for kids to be inspired, and I think that’s something that kids are looking for,” said “Walking on Water’s” director Nic McLean. “We really want to show them life and reality, and hopefully through this movie kids will see what people are really going through [in other parts of the world].”
Footwork for the film began when Jennings, a San Diego native, approached Luke Davis and Tyler Hallen in 2005 to take this trip of a lifetime after he, too, had a similar experience when he was 14 years old.
Professional surfer Peter King took Jennings under his wing and invited him and a friend to Hawaii for a surfing trip that the impressionable teens would never forget.
“Some of the things that he talked to us about was the first time anybody had ever really talked to me about spiritual things,” Jennings said. “That and just who he was, and his character, really made a big impact on my life and so as a result, I always thought it would be a great movie to make — one that was similar to that — of someone taking two surfers on a trip around the world.”
Now 33, Jennings wanted to repay the favor and show Luke and Tyler the world, but mostly he wanted the audience to be inspired.
“I always thought the story would touch people’s hearts and I think it did,” Jennings said. “It’s really refreshing for adults to see life through the life of a child, and I think for the kids it’s good for them to see life and this whole adventure through Luke and Tyler’s eyes.”
Funding for the film came from the nonprofit Walking on Water that Jennings started when he was 21. What began as a summer surf camp for kids turned into a movie-making project that has released seven other films, plus one in the works about the life of pro surfer Joey Buran.
“It was a way for me to share the joy of the sport of surfing and also my faith with this next generation,” Jennings said. “We have surf camps every year, and we have films that we produce every year for the past 10 years and we’ve shown them all over the world.”
Since its release last year, about 30,000 people across the world have seen “Walking on Water,” according to Jennings.
“I’m pretty sure that we have the largest surf video tour in the world,” he said.
The nonprofit’s last film, “Noah’s Ark,” was seen by more than 150,000 people, he added.
Faith-based
It was important for Jennings to get the message of faith across in this film. As a Christian, he wanted Luke and Tyler to learn not only from his experiences, but from those of South Africans and Peruvians, and the more than 10 professional surfers featured in the film.
Three-time world champion surfer Tom Curren and shark-attack survivor and surfer Bethany Hamilton are among those featured in the film.
“I’m hoping that through this movie people will see that, and especially kids, that life’s hard and not just fun and adventure, but through a great attitude and looking to the Lord you can have a fun and full life,” McLean said.
Kirk Lantz, a longtime surfer and a Rolling Hills Covenant Church parishioner, is the reason “Walking on Water” made it to the Hill.
“We want to see this film encourage and inspire local surfers and their families through the hope and joy presented in the movie through the featured surfers and their Christian faith,” Lantz said.
Rolling Hills Covenant Church Pastor of Local Outreach Steve Bunyard said, “This movie will be a great event for local surfers and we are excited to have Tom Curren and Bryan Jennings, sharing not only their passion for surfing, but also sharing what’s most important to them — their relationship with Jesus Christ.”
To Jennings, surfing and spirituality go hand in hand, especially, he says, when you’re face to face with a 30-foot wave.
“When you’re in God’s creation, it’s hard to not think about God,” he said. “I’ve been on a lot of different surf trips in my life, and one of them was with a guy named Pat O’Connell … I remember we were on a boat in Western Samoa, and there were perfect waves in front of us and he just said, ‘I don’t see how anybody could not believe in a creator when these waves are so perfect and created for us to have fun on.’”
The film will be shown Friday at 7 and 9 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Rolling Hills Covenant Church is located at 2222 Palos Verdes Drive North in RHE. For more information, or to watch the movie’s trailer, visit www.walkingonwater.com.
rvillaneda@pvnews.com
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