Screened as part of NZIFF 2017

Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton 2017

Directed by Rory Kennedy

This epic sports doco captures the remarkable and unconventional life of legendary big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton. Sweeping cinematography puts us in the lineup with a master playing the sea.

USA In English
118 minutes DCP

Director

Producers

Rory Kennedy
,
Paul Speaker
,
Mark Bailey
,
Jack Youngelson

Screenplay

Mark Bailey
,
Jack Youngelson

Photography

Alice Gu
,
Don King

Editor

Azin Samari

Music

Nathan Larson

With

Laird Hamilton
,
Gabrielle Reece
,
Nick Carroll
,
Darrick Doerner
,
Sam George
,
Bill Hamilton
,
Dave Kalama
,
Buzzy Kerbox
,
Brett Lickle
,
Gerry Lopez

Festivals

Sundance 2017

Elsewhere

The life and exploits of surf legend Laird Hamilton are rewardingly covered in this exemplary sports documentary, weaving footage familiar and new around a frank interview with the unfailingly forthright man himself.

“The pioneering big-wave surfer gets the full legacy treatment in Rory Kennedy’s rip-roaring account of a life spent conquering untameable walls of water.

Taking a breather from the social-issues docs that have been her main sphere, prolific nonfiction filmmaker Rory Kennedy steers the audience on an exhilarating ride in Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton. An extreme-sports film that’s also a laser-focused biographical study of a crazy man lacking a functioning fear mechanism, this portrait of the charismatic big-wave surfer catalogues almost four decades of Hamilton’s achievements while offering an admiring assessment of his unstoppable drive. Tapping into a wealth of breathtaking action footage, the film naturally is at its most exciting when it puts us right there in the surging waters.” — David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter