Save The Waves is proud to announce that this year’s STWFF tour, presented by Parley x Corona, will begin on July 28th with two concurrent world premiere screenings at Europe’s only World Surfing Reserve in Ericeira, Portugal and at the legendary surf break of Uluwatu, Bali.
STWFF Director Trey Highton explains, “We are proud to be supported by Parley x Corona’s partnership to protect our oceans from plastic waste and help preserve our global surfing resources for the enjoyment of future generations. Their support is enabling new and exciting international expansion of the STWFF in Europe, Latin America, and Australia – which is allowing us to educate and inspire growing numbers of surfers and ocean lovers on a now global scale.”
The Ericeira screening will be a part of the Portuguese Surf Film Festival for the second year running, and will be hosted by STW alumni and big-wave legend Joao de Macedo. Ericeira is home to Portugal’s first professional surfer Tiago Pires and is also home to some of the most biodiverse coastal waters in the world. Funds raised at the PSFF screening will support the local environmental work of the Ericeira WSR.
The Uluwatu screening will be hosted at Drifter Surf Shop on the Bukit Peninsula of Bali. Uluwatu was revealed to the world at large in Alby Falzon’s classic surf film Morning of the Earth (1972).
Having become an iconic wave on most surfers’ bucket list, Uluwatu averages over 500 visitors a day, which has led to some serious environmental threats to a once pristine ecosystem in an area where the government has provided no infrastructure to deal with waste management. All proceeds from the STW screening in Bali will stay local with Project Clean Uluwatu, an organization founded by local surfers to provide green alternative solutions to the waste management problems at Uluwatu and to protect its legendary waves for the generations of local and travelling surfers to come.
This year’s film festival program was curated by a rockstar cast of characters including world-class photographer turned filmmaker Chris Burkard, single-fin maestro and lensmith Leah Dawson, godfather of the modern surf film Jack McCoy, and more.