DESCRIPTION:
What if "slipping between the folds of the wave", "being welcomed into the flow rather than forcing your way in", could be the seed for a philosophy of life?
What if, from the ancestral custom of riding great waves on a board, was born a trend counting sobriety, economy of means, patience, and the strength of longer time-scales as its core values?
What if the practice of surfing made us realize that we really are living in an environment that is also alive?
What if playing with the phenomenal power of the Ocean was an homage tinged with humility and elevation, which could be the foundation for a balanced relationship with nature?
What if ocean, surf, beach, skate, California and the whole beach-culture ideal were more than just clichés?
What if a part of the European youth, often described as depressed, in a perpetual quest for themselves, could find their way to the ocean as an antidote for urban stifling?
What if these personal questionings were actually political and ecological?

Joran Briand, on the faith of this hypothesis, took up his board, his filming gear and his camera, hopped on a plane, then another plane... and went surveying the American West Coast to test its validity. There, he met with artists and creators whose work and way of life are deeply influenced by their practice of surfing. Why California? It's the epicenter of modern surf culture, a place that welcomed the first Polynesian pioneers and led them through to the world. At a stupendous speed, the movement went on to weaving its networks everywhere around the globe.