“If it wasn’t for surfing what would I be doing now?” contemplates Wesley, a teenager who lives in Brazil’s biggest favela, Rocinha. “I’d be lost in life. I wouldn’t know what to do. I’d be out there in the favela doing stupid shit.”
“Stupid shit” that has resulted in the “majority” of his friends dying, he says, because dangerous life choices are facilitated by living in the notorious slum.
Joining the Rocinha Surf Association (ASF), a project teaching kids how to surf, has redirected Wesley away from a life of violence. His story, alongside other community members, is detailed in surfing documentary Rocinha’s New Wave.
The free, 14-minute documentary, which you can watch below, took a year to film. It is the first footage from the Goma Collective, a social enterprise focusing on creative projects. Earlier this year it was selected for the National Geographic Short Film Showcase, which is brilliant by the way.
In the eye of the beholder
I feel strongly that sport can be a solution to most of life’s ills and found this short piece uplifting, concerning and hopeful. Sometimes world difficulties seem unsolvable, out of control.
Yet this local community are not waiting for things to happen, they’re going out and happening to things. (This quote is attributed to a number of people, but I’m going with Leonardo da Vinci. Yes, that one).
They’re not asking for much because they want to keep their community but just improve their environment.
It’s complicated
“Rocinha is complicated because Rocinha is a wonderful place. A different place. It’s welcoming, it’s miraculous, it’s beautiful, a world within itself,” continues surfing teacher Carlos Belo de Silva.
“Surfing is good for their quality of life and instills discipline,” he says. Above all, “it takes their focus away from negative things and shifts them on to positive things. Surfing gives opportunities to many, many kids in Rocinha”.
Surfing documentary
The film’s director Sirus F Gahan encourages locals to be involved in the film-making process. The kids are loaned video cameras to record their life their way. Consequently, this raw footage, mixed with professional filming, creates an eye-opening look into the world of the favela surfers.
A slow motion start to the documentary showcases kids in a barber shop, a young man hanging out in a street-food canteen. Furthermore, a familiar samba drum beat strikes up, snapping from shot to shot. Dancing, smiling, surfing energy is all set to a musical repetition of ‘Rocinha’, chanted by the Acadêmicos de Rocinha, a samba collective in Rio.
Tempo set
The footage continues showing kids gleefully jump in filthy-looking water, an old woman watches a flickering television set. Football, surfing, dark, murky streets, dangerous criss-crossing of electrical wires dart across the screen.
The tempo then slows again, cutting back to early morning light, a cockerel crowing. Finally we are introduced to the residents. We find out what being able to surf means to the people.
Surf life
“There are English classes in the project,” says Márcio Pereira da Silva, president of the Surf Association of Rocinha (ASR). “If the kids need a surfboard it can be provided straight away.” Similarly, accessories like leashes and wax are available too. Furthermore, board repairs and helping kids sign up to championships competitions are available.
“ASR is a dream, ASR is a family, ASR breaks down barriers,” says Da Silva, whose first board had holes in it and no fins.
“When you give opportunity, there’s a better chance something can happen,” explains professional photographer Nando Dias who was born in the slum. The whole point of ASR, he says, is to give opportunities to kids.
Another leader trying to make a difference in Rocinha, Fábio Pereira, has additional concerns about the surfing kids. “What the [authorities] are doing with their own nature is a crime,” he says of the raw sewage flowing straight into the ocean, right where the kids surf.
Kids are alright
Yet Da Silva is hopeful these same kids will be the solution. “What I hope for for the next generation is to have consciousness, in everything. To be good to people and most of all take care of the beach, the environment.”
“It’s super important because the younger generation can change this. They are more aware of this. To care for the environment, for the cleanliness of the beach.”
Ultimately, the lesson he wants to pass on is this, “Never let the essence of surfing die in Rocinha”, concluding, “Surfing only brings this to me brother, good things – happiness, joy, harmony and unity”.
“Rocinha is a sleeping giant. Right now, what Rocinha needs, it needs to unite. Its problems will only be solved if it unites,” he continues.
A drumbeat plays out with the film revealing that Brazil is actually the heart and soul of the people who live here and, given a lick of opportunity, the changes for the community could be enormous.
What now?
London played host to a screening in April for “the second most important people to see the documentary”. Those in government. The filmmakers wanted to put the story of Rocinha’s surf community in the most prestigious location they could by premiering it at the Embassy of Brazil.
What can you do? Share, like, post about the film. Follow the Goma Collective on Instagram, and director Sirus F Gahan, and chat with Associacão De Surf Da Rocinha on Facebook. Let us know what you think about it too on our Facebook page.
Directed by Sirus F Gahan
Project managed and produced by Mikey Krzyzanowski
Co-produced by Joseph Izzard
Assistant producer Gilvan Oliveira
Additional Super 8 footage by Surfers of Rocinha
Music by Acadêmicos de Rocinha, Cajm Pickering, Edvan Oliveira
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