We are so excited about this new, beautiful, and inspirational film about woman’s surfing, called Dear and Yonder, coming out this summer.
Tiffany Campbell and Andria Lesser (the surf filmmakers) have put their heart and soul into this project! Striving to capture women’s surfing in its purest form, Dear and Yonder is a celebration of their love for the ocean and the endless possibilities of where it can lead in our lives.
Roxy has decided to partner up with these ladies to help them with their project.
(The picture is of Andria and Tiffany at an art show benefit for the film)
Wanting to know a little more about the project, I interviewed Tiffany to get some insights straight from the source….
Q: The title of your film is Dear and Yonder, what does "Dear and Yonder" mean to you?
TC: The title of the film relates to the locations where we have filmed. Some of the surf spots are the girl’s homebreaks – the spots that are "dear" to them and others are distant lands that they explore "yonder." But it goes deeper than that when you look at it as a continuum because the places that are yonder become dear when the girls make a personal connection with the far away places and the people who live there and already have a deep appreciation for their homelands.
Q: How did you come up with the concept for your film?
TC: From the beginning we wanted to present a more complete picture of the female experience with the ocean and surfing. Hopefully we’re accomplishing this by including women and girls of all ages, styles, personalities and crafts. In addition to showing outstanding surfing, the film draws on the intriguing stories of the girls’ lives outside of riding waves so the viewer gets a sense of who they are in other areas of their lives and what they’re capable of. The concept came from our own desire to know more about these ladies and to honor them with an honest and beautiful portrayal of their lives as they relate to the ocean.
Q: What’s one "Dear" surf spot to you?
TC: Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz
Q: What’s one "Yonder" surf spot to you?
TC: Noosea Heads in Australia.
Q: What makes your project important?
TC: Dear & Yonder is important because of its diversity and inclusiveness but I think we won’t really know until people see it. They will determine why it’s important to them personally.
Q: What do you love to do and why do you love to do it?
TC: I love surfing, of course, but my roots are in skateboarding. Before I could drive myself to the beach, I picked up skateboarding and have been doing it ever since. I love the culture that has evolved from skateboarding. There’s a part of me that thrives on the grittiness of the streets. But mostly I love being in nature. My husband and I live in a wooded area and this is where I’m at most peace. I need the natural rhythms of the plants and animals to stay balanced.
Q: Why did you choose to partner with Roxy?
TC: We chose to partner with Roxy because of their long term commitment to women in surfing. They are clearly invested in supporting and progressing the female industry. Many girls coming up today probably don’t even remember a time when you couldn’t find a pair of boardshorts made for your body. And it may sound silly, but it was a huge step for women’s surfing to have products made specifically for us. In a sense, it was permission to be a girl in a male dominated sport.
Q: What makes Dear and Yonder and Roxy a good fit?
TC: With Dear & Yonder we hope to make the same kind of progress that Roxy made in the clothing industry, but with a different medium – film. Roxy has embraced our ideas of diversifying the casts, telling their stories, investing in 16 MM film, seeking out the best cinematographers and paying close attention to the artistic direction of the film. They see what we see, which is the need for a female focused film that matches the caliber of surfing that women have achieved.
Photo Credit: ASP Kirstin © Covered Images. Photographer: Kirstin Scholtz
November 21, 2008
