Daughters of the Wave

This year the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) will have allowed us to discover an excellent selection of independent films but also especially several documentaries like Daughters of the Wave, a French film all the more successful as it succeeds in putting forward the inseparable link between humans and the sea. By showing how a great surfer follows in her father's footsteps and became one of the best surfers of today, this excellent documentary film benefits from a great care given to the image and really makes us want to get back to surfing and forget about this current pandemic we have been going through for more than a year.

Although she is only 20 years old, Vahine Fierro is not intimidated by the Teahupoo wave, considered the most dangerous in the world. Vahine surfs like no other Polynesian woman has ever surfed. In Tahitian culture, surfing the waves is an ancestral activity from which women had been gradually eliminated, but today surfing is open to women, just in time for the Olympics. Coming from an entire family of surfers, Vahine and her two sisters hope to make a living from their passion and travel the world.

Despite its short length, this documentary gives us some excellent interviews and allows us to better understand the great preparatory work involved in surfing at a professional level. By going straight to the point and by its superb landscapes this film deserves to be discovered and can be seen as an educational tool to encourage new generations to surf. For our part, we can't wait to return to Los Angeles to find its beautiful beaches and surf again.

Daughters of the Wave
Written and directed by Lisa Monin, Sébastien Daguerressar
Produced by Sébastien Daguerressar
Music by Leopold roy
Cinematography : Sébastien Daguerressar
Edited by Astrid Jacob
Production companies : Babel doc
Release date : April 1, 2021 (SBIFF)
Running time :53 minutes

Seen on April 01, 2021 (SBIFF)

Mulder's Mark: