A short film about shorts

Produced by Groundglass, the beautifully graded, golden-hued film was written, directed and edited by Gareth Kaatze and follows the birth of the jazzy board shorts that have become central to surfing style.  

It reveals how a nurturing mother develops the talents of her daughter, the ambitious designer, Zola, and her son, Charlie, who is making headlines in the international surf scene. 

Kaatze commented: “This film is a subtle ode to mothers worldwide. Showing that the influence a mom has on her kids can ultimately be the start to a global movement. I wanted to create a vibrant 1970s Afro surf world. So we sourced Nigerian funk from the era, we found real African surfers of all ages and used non-actors as our main cast. Our budget was small and our crew even smaller! We had four days to shoot, the weather, locations and universe was on our side as everything seemed to line up."