The pursuit of happiness, travel and surfing. This precious triangle has been at the heart of Panthalassa Society’s filmmakers Pierre David and Douglas Guillot’ s last short film « Into Bliss », entirely shot on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Through the portrait of Australian surfer Jordan Rodin, the creative duo David and Douglas wanted to pay tribute to the dimension of surfing they respect the most: Surfing for fun with a deep respect for the ocean and nature. « Jordan is not your regular surfer, he’s a unique character. He works 6 days a week with his father to finance his trips and lifestyle. Jordan truly embodies the vision of surfing we admire, the one we thrive on. »
For years, the Australian surfer has been inspired by legends like 60-years old Derek Hynd, best known as pioneer of finless surfing. Often described as a hymn to the origins of surfing, finless surfing celebrates with solemnity the art of gliding. By definition, finless surfboards have zero drag due to the absence of fins, they offer a pure glide as well as an intense and perfect communion with the ocean. « Finless surfing is a lifestyle on its own right, it brings complete different feelings than conventional boards. We directly connect to the ocean. Jordan uses his hands to set directions and turn. He also has an extremely low center of gravity. »
More like a danser, Jordan Rodin uses his entire body to move on his board at high speeds. « There’s a choreographic notion in all that, something’s a bit mysterious in the way he surfs. « Into Bliss » evokes pure pleasure and unpretentious surfing. The initial idea was to inspire people to go surfing, with a good music and nice images combined in a short format. »
Far from the day to day constraints of professional surfing and surf competitions that requires to use high performance shortboards depending on your surfing abilities, frequency and the types of waves to surf, according to Jordan, you simply can slide on anything. It doesn’t have to be soft or powerful, surfing is just all about having fun in the ocean. « That’s surfing. You can just do one little turn on a wave, better than doing three turns on a shortboard for me. The feeling of riding these boards: Free, speed, a lot of thinking time. It’s not exhausting riding a wave, just, you stand up and go. » As simple as it is.
Discover David and Douglas’ work here.
