Mixed Plate Special - Sliding Liberia

Sliding Liberia

Written by Catharine Lo

Sunday, July 20 2008

SLIDING LIBERIA HALEIWA PREMIERE: SAT. JULY 26 at CAFE HALEIWA 8pm

Nobody would have guessed it, but the day before Crystal Thornburg crossed the Ka‘iwi Channel on paddleboard (and finished team second) with her partner Brenda Fried for last year’s Moloka‘i race, she had just deplaned from a 24-hour flight from Liberia, a trip that ultimately became a life-changing experience. Culture shock was kind of an understatement for what she was going through, having just come from the West African nation still recovering from

decades of brutal civil war, where she and her friends were the only tourists in the entire country.

Crystal, a Patagonia-sponsored surfer and nationally ranked Olympic flat water kayaker, was there to surf in a documentary conceived by Stanford PhD student Nicholai Lidow and filmmaker Britton Caillouette. The project, Sliding Liberia, turned out to be ideally inspiring for the O‘ahu-born-and-raised waterwoman and environmental activist, because it revealed this candid truth: “No one wave will change your life. It's the people you meet on your journey and the opportunities you find to learn or lend a hand that will make a lasting impression.”

For the film’s creators, Sliding Liberia marries a quest for social justice and surf in remote parts of the world, and surf travel becomes a new vehicle for documenting stories of social change. It all began when lifelong surfer Nicholai traveled to Ghana to volunteer for an NGO as a political science student who was researching the peace process in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire. He shared an apartment with Liberian refugees who had fled their own war, and three years later, teaming up with Britton, he took the opportunity to tell the stories of their plight—the loss, suffering, and hope that had so moved him.

They invited Crystal, O‘ahu cinematographer Dave Homcy (Shelter, Brokedown Melody), and California surfers Dan Malloy and Chris Del Moro along for the adventure. Their gear: 18 boards, 180 100-foot rolls of 16mm film, cameras, water bottles, 50 kilos of rice, 20 kilos of lentils, charcoal burners, machetes, rope, refugee tarps, generators, voltage regulators, lights and extension cords. The footage: A rediscovered, world-class left point break and intimate interviews with Liberians like Alfred, a young boy who became Liberia's first surfer after finding a bodyboard while fleeing from rebels. The result? Promising Sundance Film Festival contender Sliding Liberia, due to be released next spring.

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Jen Homcy said:

Great article Catherine! Believe it or not, I am not being biased here. I have been lucky enough to view some if the footage. This film is moving, graceful, visually artistic, awakening, and much much more. It will leave you feeling like you want to help in some way, but even more, it will leave you feeling so very humbled. With no electricity and water, no internet and video games, the children still smile bigger and brighter than I have ever seen. I had many moments of introspection, where I realized we have so much (too much) and take so very much for granted. This film is not just something to see, it is something to experience. Without even having been to Africa, the film Sliding Liberia has change me in many ways. Don't miss this one.

August 10, 2007 - 11:55AM

Pam Omidyar said:

It was terrific to see this film coming out - I have been to Liberia and could see decent breaks from my hotel - the beach was really polluted with trash and sewage everywhere. Please put me on your mailing list - it would be great to get a community effort to clean the beaches and make them safe for everyone to enjoy.

August 13, 2007 - 01:04AM