Was the Wild West tamed by surfers? Well, maybe not in Tombstone, Ariz., but possibly at Cabo Blanco, Peru, as the new surfing movie, “Peel: The Peru Project” could suggest.
Filmed off the dusty coastal trails in the wilds of this South American country, the movie’s intriguing blend of history and culture, along with plenty of red-hot surfing, will be screening on Friday, Aug. 25 at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD), 700 Prospect St.
“Peel: The Peru Project” is the creation of filmmakers T.J. Barrack and Wes Brown, who spent 39 days traveling with a crew of talented surfers, including Jamie Sterling and Mark Healey, both from Hawaii; Jesse Colombo and Randy Bonds from Santa Cruz, Calif.; plus seven-time Peruvian National Surfing Champion Magoo de la Rosa and current Women’s World Professional Surfing Champion Sofia Mulanovich, also from Peru.
The film follows their travels to rarely (if ever) photographed stunning wave locations and captures all the high-energy radical surfing performances by this international crew. It also highlights the unique flavor of the country, including a side trip up to the incredible mountain-top Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.
If this sounds like an interesting diversion from the usual hard-core surf-action movie, it may be because of the background of filmmaker Brown. His grandfather, Bruce Brown, created the iconic 1960s surfing-travel documentary “The Endless Summer,” and his father, Dana Brown, created the more recent award-winning surf film “Step into Liquid.”
However, Wes didn’t automatically aspire to making surfing movies.
“I had other plans. I wanted to play baseball, but I did some editing and assistant writing work on ‘The Endless Summer II’ and ‘Step into Liquid,’ which took about three years to make, and really enjoyed the creative process,” he recalled. “Then T.J. Barrack, who played baseball with me in high school and had graduated from USC, hooked up with me and we formed our own production company, Little House Productions, in 2003.”
So far, the team has produced the Tahiti-based surf film “Islands in the Stream” and a documentary filmed in South Africa called “Chasing Dora,” about a novel surf “competition” idea from the late, legendary surfing rebel Mickey Dora.
Deciding to explore the raw and rugged Peruvian coastline for “Peel: The Peru Project” was challenging, to say the least.
“Although the country is rich with culture and full of tradition, it can be pretty heavy if you aren’t careful,” Wes said. “There are areas where people will kill you for a loaf of bread.”
Since the crew was traveling with $1 million worth of camera equipment and thievery is common, they enlisted the help of a local security specialist named “Octopuss.”
“Probably for the amount of weapons he carried,” Wes said. “This guy was unbelievable. He had worked for the president there, some tough organizations, and he had killed people!
“When we got pulled over by some cops in the middle of nowhere, basically to extort gas money, he was the guy that handled the situation. That was comforting! He knew when and where we had to watch out!”
Having two highly respected local surfing champions like de la Rosa and Mulanovich onboard was also huge.
“The ocean culture is strong here, going back centuries, and surfing is a national pastime,” Wes said. “They are very passionate about it. With Sofia being the world champ, it is a really big deal. She is on billboards and everything, and Magoo is a total legend and a national hero!”
The 74 minute-long film captures some spectacular surfing sequences, including the small, coastal fishing village of Cabo Blanco where Ernest Hemingway supposedly wrote the classic “The Old Man and the Sea.”
“The town was magical, the waves were some of the best we found in the whole country and we had it all to ourselves,” Wes said.
“Peel: The Peru Project” will screen at 7 and 9 p.m. at the MCASD Sherwood Auditorium. The showing is being supported by the San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and tickets are $10.
For more information, call (858) 454-3541, (805) 494-7199 or visit www.peelperuproject.com.