Vampire Surf Club, a Venice Beach-based surfwear and swimwear brand, will premiere “Boy Eats Sand” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, at The Waterfront on the Venice boardwalk. The 15-minute short film was directed by Venice surfer and filmmaker Noah Hill.
The free screening is open to the public. It will be followed by a panel discussion and a DJ set by the film’s editor, Darin Conrad.
The film is about what it takes to build a life around surfing. It also explores what you do when you’re told to give up the thing that makes you who you are. Hill is a former junior pro who competed for the USA Surf Team before choosing free surfing. He tells the story himself, alongside his parents, Blake and Linda Hill.
“When you start doing something at such a young age, it definitely consumes who you are,” Hill says in the film.
The film was made to raise awareness of melanoma among surfers, who spend long hours in direct sun. It is not a medical film. It features real people telling their own story in their own words.
“Everything we make is about staying in the water longer and more safely, and Noah’s story is the reason that matters,” said Nicola Morgan, the brand’s founder. “Showing it first in Venice, for free, with the local community people who know him, felt like the right way to do it.”
Hill directed the film and Conrad edited it. Joseph Duerr shot the surf cinematography. Morgan and Lawrence Lee produced it for Vampire Surf Club.
The Waterfront is at 205 Ocean Front Walk. No tickets are required. RSVP at vampiresurfclub.com/boyeatssand.
Vampire Surf Club designs its clothing in Venice for warm water and surf travel. Its line includes UPF50+ hooded rash guards, long-sleeve surf suits and surf leggings made from Italian ECONYL regenerated nylon. It also offers 1mm springsuits in Japanese limestone neoprene.
Morgan spent 15 years designing for luxury fashion brands including Givenchy, Lanvin and The Row. Morgan started the brand after a sunburn cut short a surf session at Honolua Bay.
Edited by SMDP Staff